Population Control and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

As the millennium approached, one out of the thousands of children born daily became a benchmark in human history. Unknowingly, this baby became the six billionth person to inhabit Earth. Its identity is unknown and even the origin of the child can only be a speculation, yet its impact on the future of humanity is undeniable. As little as two centuries ago, the world’s population was estimated to be approximately one billion. Anthropologists have calculated the human species to be have been in existence for roughly three million years, however, it is only within the past two hundred years that its population has increased by six hundred percent.

Many demographers predict that within the next fifty years, earth’s population will have reached ten to twelve billion people. Half of the world’s population is under the age of twenty four, and three billion young people will have the ability to procreate within the next two decades. While death control has vastly increased worldwide, birth control is still scarce in developing nations and the birthrate is significantly higher than the deathrate in those countries. The snowballing trend of population growth has placed significant strain on the planet’s resources, and many have begun to look for a means of population control.

Aldous Huxley created his classic dystopia in his novel Brave New World during the midst of this population surge. His fictional population was strictly controlled in every aspect by its government, and every birth and death would ensure that the optimal number was maintained. Like most aspects of his book though, he merely hyperbolized facets of the real world in an attempt to satirize life. He examined the tendency of demographers to try and establish a point of stabilization for the human population. As the population grew in rapid and uncontrollable rates, he predicted that people looking instinctively look for stability would eventually be willing to forfeit freedoms in exchange. Despite the fact that he wrote his novel less than a century ago, many of his predictions seem to be becoming reality.