Editing Brave New World (section)

==The World State and Fordism==
The World State is built upon the principles of Henry Ford's [[assembly line]]: mass production, homogeneity, predictability, and consumption of disposable consumer goods. While the World State lacks any supernatural-based religions, Ford himself is revered as the creator of their society but not as a deity, and characters celebrate Ford Day and swear oaths by his name (e.g., "By Ford!"). In this sense, some fragments of traditional religion are present, such as Christian crosses, which had their tops cut off to be changed to a "T", representing the [[Ford Model T]]. In England, there is an Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury, obviously continuing the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], and in America ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' continues publication as ''The Fordian Science Monitor''. The World State calendar numbers years in the "AF" era—"After Ford"—with the calendar beginning in AD 1908, the year in which Ford's first Model T rolled off his assembly line. The novel's Gregorian calendar year is AD 2540, but it is referred to in the book as AF 632.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brave New World {{!}} Summary, Context, & Reception {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brave-New-World |access-date=2023-05-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

From birth, members of every class are [[indoctrination|indoctrinated]] by recorded voices repeating slogans while they sleep (called "hypnopædia" in the book) to believe their own class is superior, but that the other classes perform needed functions. Any residual unhappiness is resolved by an [[antidepressant]] and [[hallucinogenic drug]] called soma.

The biological techniques used to control the populace in ''Brave New World'' do not include [[genetic engineering]]; Huxley wrote the book before the structure of [[DNA]] was known. However, [[Gregor Mendel]]'s work with inheritance patterns in peas had been rediscovered in 1900 and the [[eugenics]] movement, based on [[artificial selection]], was well established. [[Huxley family|Huxley's family]] included a number of prominent biologists including [[Thomas Huxley]], half-brother and [[Nobel Laureate]] [[Andrew Huxley]], and his brother [[Julian Huxley]] who was a biologist and involved in the eugenics movement. Nonetheless, Huxley emphasises conditioning over breeding ([[nature versus nurture|nurture versus nature]]); human embryos and fetuses are conditioned through a carefully designed regimen of chemical (such as exposure to hormones and toxins), thermal (exposure to intense heat or cold, as one's future career would dictate), and other environmental stimuli, although there is an element of [[selective breeding]] as well.