Summary:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury provides a view of the future for the world and for humanity. Written in 1954, it looks at the 21st Century on Earth and surprisingly some of the predictions for society in the novel already seem imminent today. It forecasts humans with no control over their thoughts and their lives passing so fast they no longer slow down and enjoy everything.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury provides a view of the future for the world and for humanity. Written in 1954, it looks at the 21st Century on Earth and surprisingly some of the predictions for society in the novel already seem imminent today. It forecasts humans with no control over their thoughts and their lives passing so fast they no longer slow down and enjoy everything. Bradbury also predicts that the already computer dependent education system will eventually only teach mindless facts that appear to fill the brain. The author also made two other primary estimations, one was that human interaction would severely demise in the future due to technological advancements. The other was that the already existing problem of some women not wanting children would exacerbate over time and become so bad that children are no longer really cared for. So the important question, were Bradbury's forecasts accurate"
Firstly in present society, technology definitely has a grip over mankind. Whether it is accelerating life, influencing our minds and opinions. Technological advancements are constantly being designed to make every task faster. Humans are rushing through each day, aiming to fit more in yet no longer experiencing the original journey endured during each job. An example is that home-cooked meals are being replaced with prepared microwave-cooked dinners. In the novel, the sample given is automobiles are legally forced to go at vast speeds or a consequence of prison will be enforced. This causes advertising billboards to be stretched out so they can be read. Next, at the present time the majority of television viewers are influenced by the opinions of the media or other current affair programs. It can affect or change our beliefs towards a subject. In the book the television controls addicted viewers by constantly pushing ideas into their heads over a prolonged period.
"The televisor is 'real'...It tells you what to think and blasts it in. It
must be right. It seems so right. It rushes you on so quickly to its own
conclusions your mind hasn't time to protest."
(Bradbury. 1954: 92)
Technology is not only affecting our minds and the time taken to do things, but also it is meddling with the original learning methods in schools today.
In addition technology also interferes with education. In present times, children are now being separated from traditional learning methods. For instance, calculators are beginning to replace working for mathematics or spell check on computers replacing the need to proof read. Today instead of learning how to do things in our minds we are taught how to put the problem into some type of machine for it to produce an answer instead. In the story this relates to how people are educated not to think or be independent. They are only taught facts instead of stories with different sides.
"Cram them full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant'
with information...they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense
of motion without moving. And they'll be happy because facts of that
sort don't change..."
(Bradbury. 1954: 68)
Technology seems to be rapidly replacing old teaching methods, could it also become a substitute for other things such as family, emotions and discipline"
In fact during this time, technology appears to be isolating us from interacting with our fellow man and it has also proven capable to substitute family time and involvement with each other. Actually, it appears manual labor is increasingly being replaced by computers and robots. Such as bank-tellers by automatic tellers or telephone operators by computer recordings people keep being replaced. In the novel families are being substituted with television characters. "He heard the 'relatives' shouting from the parlour-walls." (Bradbury. 1954: 55) Furthermore the want for children in each generation has declined. Also many couples are choosing to not have children because of the burden they bring. A baby now is sometimes seen as an ordeal to raise. In the novel the women continually have abortions to avoid having children or if they have them, they send them to boarding school from infancy.
"No one in his right mind, the Good Lord knows, would have children'...
'I've had two children by Caesarian section. No use going through all that
agony for a baby. The world must reproduce, you know, the race must go
on'... 'Caesarians or not, children are ruinous; you're out of your mind."
(Bradbury. 1954: 104)
The lack of human contact and the decrease in wanting children at this present time will hopefully not grow much more because isolation and distance from others is not a healthy future for humans.
Technology has quite clearly changed humanity for the worse in some ways. It puts other people's ideas into our heads, but will it ever be able to control our thoughts? Also it is making us speed through each day and enjoy moments less. Will we eventually all go so fast that we will race through each day never once slowing down? Furthermore it has altered our principles for learning, making us more dependent on computers. Will we eventually only learn facts and nothing controversial to keep us positive? Moreover it has diminished our contact with other humans and so many of us no longer want to reproduce. Will it get to the extent where we are all strangers living together and there are barely any children around? Are some or all of these forecasts the fate for humanity?
