Mustapha In Brave New World

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a work of science fiction, but it is not a work about the dangers of science. Huxley himself says in the forward to the novel that "the theme of Brave New World is not the advancement of science as such; it is the advancement of science as it affects human individuals" (Huxley xi). In the novel, Huxley shows that science itself is dangerous and that the true goal of the World State’s research is to advance consumer technology—the aspect of science that directly affects the State’s citizens. The dangers of science to the World State are pointed out by one very high-ranking World State official: the Resident Controller of Western Europe, Mustapha Mond. Towards the end of the novel, Mustapha reveals that he
Consumerism trumps scientific curiosity in the World State because economic revenue increases stability while scientific knowledge decreases it by jeopardizing the blissful ignorance of World State citizens. Technologies which average citizens care about are either recreational—centrifugal bumble-puppy, electromagnetic golf, the feelies—or medical—soma, the prolonged preservation of youth, mass sterilization. In society, recreational technologies tend to increase the revenues of the World State, while medical technologies tend to increase the mindless happiness of citizens. Both forms of technology are an integral part of the stability of the world state because both directly keep citizens complacent. Technology is a derivative of science, because, without scientific advances, technology would be impossible. The World State tells its citizens that “science is everything” (Huxley 231) in its hypnopædic teachings for this very reason, but the state’s reverence for science is completely superficial. Through his treatment of science in Brave New World, Huxley shows that only the advances which directly affect individuals are important to the development of his dystopian World