Brave New World is a novel written by Aldous Huxley that explores a society set in the future that is much different from ours today. Driven by technology, stability, and equity this civilization is Huxley’s warning as to what could happen to our own society if technology were to take over and also a satire of the society that the author lived in. One of the major themes in the book is the affinity of truth and happiness. The major question asked on the subject is can the two exist together in their totality? Real scientific exploration was totally inhibited and was instead replaced only with scientific research that would promote happiness among the people such as “feelie” movies and soma. The arts were destroyed and works such as Shakespeare and The Bible were replaced by meaningless music and assorted scents. There are then two kinds of truth that have been suppressed: empirical truth (scientific, mathematical) and human truths (love, artistry). If we lose these foundations of our own society in the future, do we lose our humanity as well? What defines humanity? As far as truth and happiness are concerned does one take precedent over the other?
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