Sunday, November 17, 2013

consciousness

Aldous Huxley, in the novel Brave New World, wrote about an imaginary drug (soma) that made people feel extremely happy and cooperative. If such a drug existed, would you take it?  What if it was as safe as aspirin?  Should everyone be forced to take the drug?  What would the world be like if everyone took the drug? 

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Like Bernard Marx, I may not take the Soma because I am a non-conformist myself. Not even my primary care physician can let me take a drug that I think is not doing me any good unless it is an antibiotic and I have to finish the full course of the medication so as to avoid the adverse effects of being non-compliant.

I somehow associate the imaginary drug Soma as a combination of Fluoxetine and Lorazepam. Would I take Prozac or Ativan? In my mind, I would say I have no need of any drug that would take me out of depression or anxiety but I do need coffee to keep me awake and sometimes  half a tablet of Unisom to make me sleep. Most or all drugs have their adverse effects if they are misused.  

I find the storyline of the Brave New World kind of  corny for a futuristic novel. Maybe the imaginary drug that could make people feel extremely happy and cooperative has been around for decades and 2540 in the Gregorian calendar came too soon. I haven't taken any drugs similar to Soma for recreational use. As for anyone being forced to take psychoactive drugs, it can happen by peer pressure or in a lifestyle one chooses.

I don't know what the world be like if everyone took the drug.

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