In econometrics, which trades on computing relationships between related variables, an artifact is a spurious finding, such as one based on either a faulty choice of variables or an over extension of the computed relationship. Such an artifact may be called a statistical artifact. For instance, imagine a hypothetical finding that presidential approval rating is approximately equal to twice the percentage of citizens making more than $50,000 annually; if 60% of citizens make more than $50,000 annually, this would predict that the approval rating will be 120%. This prediction is a statistical artifact, since it is spurious to use the model when the percentage of citizens making over $50,000 is so high, and gross error to predict an approval rating greater than 100%.
Orwell's novel was adapted for television by Nigel Kneale, one of the most prolific television scriptwriters of the time. The previous year he had created the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass for the popular science-fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment. The adaptation was produced and directed by the equally respected Rudolph Cartier, perhaps the BBC's best producer-director of the 1950s who was always adventurous artistically and technically. Cartier, a veteran of the UFA film studios in 1930s Germany who had fled the Nazi regime for Britain in 1936, had worked with Kneale the previous year on The Quatermass Experiment and was a veteran of many television drama productions.
BBC Radio 5 Live (also known as just 5 Live) is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, interviews and sports commentaries. It is the principal radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcasting virtually all major sports events staged in the UK or involving British competitors.
Radio 5 Live was launched in March 1994 as a repositioning of the original Radio 5, which was launched on 27 August 1990. It is transmitted via analogue radio in AM on medium wave 693 and 909kHz and digitally via digital radio, television and via an Internet stream. Due to rights restrictions, coverage of some events (in particular live sport) is not available on-line or is restricted to UK addresses.
The success of Radio 4 News FM during the first Gulf War (1991) led the BBC to propose the launch a rolling-news service. After many arguments, both internal and external,
the BBC closed their fifth radio network, BBC Radio 5, and replaced the old service's educational and children's programmes with a new news service, whilst retaining the sports programmes. The new BBC Radio 5 Live began its 24-hour service at 5am on Monday 28 March 1994. The first voice on air, Jane Garvey, later went on to co-present the breakfast and drive-time shows with Peter Allen. The Times described the launch as "slipp[ing] smoothly and confidently into a routine of informative banter"
and The Scotsman as "professionalism at its slickest".
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution. It was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997.
The channel's annual budget for 2012–13 is £1.14 billion. The channel is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBC's other domestic television stations, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising. It is currently the most watched television channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership, ITV.
As of June 2013 the channel controller for BBC One is Charlotte Moore, who succeeded Danny Cohen initially as an Acting Controller from May 2013.
Science Horizons Survival is a ZX Spectrumcomputer game developed by Five Ways Software. It was published by Sinclair Research in association with Macmillan Education in 1984. It is an educational game in which the player takes on the role of one of a series of animals, and had to find food to survive while avoiding predators.
Development
Survival was developed as part of a series of educational software aimed at children aged between 5 and 12. This "Science Horizons" series was instigated by Sir Clive Sinclair and ex-prime minister Harold Macmillan.
Gameplay
The aim was to teach users about food chains; as an insect life is short, with the constant danger of being eaten by a bird - but as an eagle the player is at the top of the food chain with mankind or starvation as the only dangers.
The simulation allows the player to be one of six animals: a hawk, a robin
, a lion, a mouse, a fly or a butterfly. The world appears in scrolling grid form, with ice caps to the north and south. The player moves one square at a time, with visibility depending on the chosen animal, avoiding predators and find food and water. The game ends when the animal dies, either through starvation, dehydration, being killed by a predator, or old age.
"Survival" is a song by the English alternative rock band Muse. The track is the first single from the band's sixth studio album, The 2nd Law. It was announced on 27 June that "Survival" would serve as the official song for the London 2012 Olympics and was released following its premiere on BBC Radio 1.
Background and writing
"It's a huge honour to have the track chosen as such a major part of the London 2012 Olympic Games."
In 2011, Matthew Bellamy was asked to compose a song for the London 2012 Olympics. According to him, the project then "went away," though a song was written regardless. Bellamy and his fellow band members brought the song to Olympic staff, who "said they'd love to use it as the official tune." The track, Bellamy noted, "expresses a sense of conviction and determination to win."
"Survival" was played as the athletes entered the stadium and in the period before medal ceremonies; international broadcasters played it while reporting on the Games. In addition, the song was featured on the album London 2012 Rock The Games. The song was also premièred live during Muse's live set for the London 2012 closing ceremony. However NBC, the channel that broadcasts the Olympics in the USA, did not broadcast their set.
Nineteen Eighty Four, 1984 Brothers and sisters, the battle for production has been won!
published: 20 Mar 2021
1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four) (trailer)
Winston Smith endures a squalid existence in totalitarian Oceania under the constant surveillance of Big Brother. But his life takes a horrifying turn when he begins a forbidden love affair and commits the crime of independent thought. Sent to the chillingly labelled "Ministry of Love", he is placed at the mercy of O'Brien (Burton), a coolly treacherous leader determined to control his thoughts and crush his soul...
Please also watch Bradbury's: Fahrenheit 451 ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0060390/ )
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (DVD)
The Fountainhead (DVD)
http://www.getwhatyoupayfor.com
http://imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
published: 29 Jun 2007
George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four - (1954)
#1984 #GeorgeOrwell #PeterCushing
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a British television adaptation of the 1949 novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in December 1954. The production proved to be hugely controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over its supposed subversive nature and horrific content. In a 2000 poll of industry experts conducted by the British Film Institute to determine the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four was ranked in seventy-third position.
published: 06 Feb 2021
George Orwell BBC Arena Part 5 Nineteen Eighty Four
Part 5 of an in-depth 5 part series about George Orwell made in 1983.
published: 31 May 2013
Nineteen Eighty-Four - Official Trailer [HD]
This is the trailer of the film representation of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and follows the story of two lovers in a society dominated by Big Brother.
published: 29 Apr 2012
Nineteen Eighty Four - David Niven - George Orwell - NBC University Theater
Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published in June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime.
The story was mostly written at Barnhill, a farmhouse on the Scottish island of Jura, at times while Orwell suffered from severe tuberculosis. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the risks of government overreach, totalitarianism, and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviours within society.
The story takes place in an imagined future, the year 1984, when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda. Great Britain, known as Airstrip One, has become a provinc...
published: 18 May 2020
Brave New World vs Nineteen Eighty-Four featuring Adam Gopnik and Will Self
The battle between two of the greatest dystopian novels Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four is strikingly urgent in our world of Donald Trump, 'fake news', and technological advances. On the Intelligence Squared stage, we have Will Self arguing for Brave New World and Adam Gopnik arguing for Nineteen Eighty-Four. The debate was chaired by Jonathan Freedland.
Dystopian books and films are in the zeitgeist. Reflecting the often dark mood of our times, Intelligence Squared are staging a contest between two of the greatest dystopian novels, 'Brave New World' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. Each book captured the nightmares of the 1930s and 40s. But which vision looks more prescient to us now in the 21st century? Are we living in George Orwell’s sinister surveillance state? Or in Aldous Huxle...
published: 12 Feb 2018
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) Trailer
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) Trailer
AKA 1984
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
Director: Michael Radford
John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack, Gregor Fisher
Winston Smith endures a squalid existence in totalitarian Oceania under the constant surveillance of Big Brother. But his life takes a horrifying turn when he b...
Winston Smith endures a squalid existence in totalitarian Oceania under the constant surveillance of Big Brother. But his life takes a horrifying turn when he begins a forbidden love affair and commits the crime of independent thought. Sent to the chillingly labelled "Ministry of Love", he is placed at the mercy of O'Brien (Burton), a coolly treacherous leader determined to control his thoughts and crush his soul...
Please also watch Bradbury's: Fahrenheit 451 ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0060390/ )
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (DVD)
The Fountainhead (DVD)
http://www.getwhatyoupayfor.com
http://imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
Winston Smith endures a squalid existence in totalitarian Oceania under the constant surveillance of Big Brother. But his life takes a horrifying turn when he begins a forbidden love affair and commits the crime of independent thought. Sent to the chillingly labelled "Ministry of Love", he is placed at the mercy of O'Brien (Burton), a coolly treacherous leader determined to control his thoughts and crush his soul...
Please also watch Bradbury's: Fahrenheit 451 ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0060390/ )
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (DVD)
The Fountainhead (DVD)
http://www.getwhatyoupayfor.com
http://imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
#1984 #GeorgeOrwell #PeterCushing
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a British television adaptation of the 1949 novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broad...
#1984 #GeorgeOrwell #PeterCushing
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a British television adaptation of the 1949 novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in December 1954. The production proved to be hugely controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over its supposed subversive nature and horrific content. In a 2000 poll of industry experts conducted by the British Film Institute to determine the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four was ranked in seventy-third position.
#1984 #GeorgeOrwell #PeterCushing
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a British television adaptation of the 1949 novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in December 1954. The production proved to be hugely controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over its supposed subversive nature and horrific content. In a 2000 poll of industry experts conducted by the British Film Institute to determine the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four was ranked in seventy-third position.
This is the trailer of the film representation of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and follows the story of two lovers in a society dominated by Big Broth...
This is the trailer of the film representation of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and follows the story of two lovers in a society dominated by Big Brother.
This is the trailer of the film representation of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and follows the story of two lovers in a society dominated by Big Brother.
Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published in June 1949 by Secker & Warbur...
Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published in June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime.
The story was mostly written at Barnhill, a farmhouse on the Scottish island of Jura, at times while Orwell suffered from severe tuberculosis. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the risks of government overreach, totalitarianism, and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviours within society.
The story takes place in an imagined future, the year 1984, when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda. Great Britain, known as Airstrip One, has become a province of a superstate named Oceania that is ruled by the Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking. Big Brother, the leader of the Party, enjoys an intense cult of personality despite the fact that he may not even exist. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent and skillful rank-and-file worker and Party member who secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. He enters a forbidden relationship with a co-worker, Julia. (Wikipedia)
Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published in June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime.
The story was mostly written at Barnhill, a farmhouse on the Scottish island of Jura, at times while Orwell suffered from severe tuberculosis. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the risks of government overreach, totalitarianism, and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviours within society.
The story takes place in an imagined future, the year 1984, when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda. Great Britain, known as Airstrip One, has become a province of a superstate named Oceania that is ruled by the Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking. Big Brother, the leader of the Party, enjoys an intense cult of personality despite the fact that he may not even exist. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent and skillful rank-and-file worker and Party member who secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. He enters a forbidden relationship with a co-worker, Julia. (Wikipedia)
The battle between two of the greatest dystopian novels Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four is strikingly urgent in our world of Donald Trump, 'fake news',...
The battle between two of the greatest dystopian novels Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four is strikingly urgent in our world of Donald Trump, 'fake news', and technological advances. On the Intelligence Squared stage, we have Will Self arguing for Brave New World and Adam Gopnik arguing for Nineteen Eighty-Four. The debate was chaired by Jonathan Freedland.
Dystopian books and films are in the zeitgeist. Reflecting the often dark mood of our times, Intelligence Squared are staging a contest between two of the greatest dystopian novels, 'Brave New World' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. Each book captured the nightmares of the 1930s and 40s. But which vision looks more prescient to us now in the 21st century? Are we living in George Orwell’s sinister surveillance state? Or in Aldous Huxley’s vapid consumerist culture? To battle it out, we brought two celebrated writers, Adam Gopnik and Will Self, to our stage.
After Donald Trump was elected, it seemed as if 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' had clinched it. The book shot to the top of the bestseller charts. It felt so ominously familiar. In Orwell’s dystopia, the corporate state controls the news, insisting that ‘whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth’. That sounds very like Trump’s ‘alternative facts’, and the war he is waging on the ‘fake news’ media. Orwell imagined two-way telescreens spying on every citizen’s home. Today we have Amazon’s ‘always listening’ Alexa device, while Google, Facebook and the security agencies hoover up our personal data for their own ends. Orwell also described an Inner Party – two percent of the population – enjoying all the privileges and political control. Isn’t that scarily close to the ‘one percent’, reviled for their wealth and influence by anti-capitalists today? No wonder everyone rushed out to buy the book.
But Orwell’s critics say 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' is a dated dystopia, a vision that died along with communism. The novel that better resonates with our present, they say, is 'Brave New World'. Here Aldous Huxley imagined a plastic techno-society where sex is casual, entertainment light and consumerism rampant. There are pills to make people happy, virtual reality shows to distract the masses from actual reality, and hook-ups to take the place of love and commitment. Isn’t that all a bit close to home? Huxley even imagined a caste system created by genetic engineering, from alpha and beta types right down to a slave underclass. We may not have gone down that road, but gene-editing might soon enable Silicon Valley’s super-rich to extend their lifespans and enhance the looks and intelligence of their offspring. Will we soon witness the birth of a new genetic super-class?
Both these novels imagined extraordinary futures, but which better captures our present and offers the keener warning about where we may be heading?
__________________________
Brilliant minds, debate, online events, ask your questions. Try Intelligence Squared +: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/plus/
WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE SQUARED+?
Intelligence Squared+ brings you live, interactive events online every week. You can ask your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events, live and on-demand, featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers.
Subscribe to Intelligence Squared+ today: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/plus/
Follow Intelligence Squared:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intelligencesquared/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intelligence2/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/intelligence2
Listen to our podcasts?
Intelligence Squared Podcast: https://play.acast.com/s/intelligencesquared
How I Found My Voice with Samira Ahmed: https://apple.co/32WnrPV
About Intelligence Squared:
Intelligence Squared has established itself as the leading forum for live, agenda-setting debates, talks and discussions around the world.
Our aim is to promote a global conversation that enables people to make informed decisions about the issues that matter, in the company of the world's greatest minds and orators.
The battle between two of the greatest dystopian novels Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four is strikingly urgent in our world of Donald Trump, 'fake news', and technological advances. On the Intelligence Squared stage, we have Will Self arguing for Brave New World and Adam Gopnik arguing for Nineteen Eighty-Four. The debate was chaired by Jonathan Freedland.
Dystopian books and films are in the zeitgeist. Reflecting the often dark mood of our times, Intelligence Squared are staging a contest between two of the greatest dystopian novels, 'Brave New World' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. Each book captured the nightmares of the 1930s and 40s. But which vision looks more prescient to us now in the 21st century? Are we living in George Orwell’s sinister surveillance state? Or in Aldous Huxley’s vapid consumerist culture? To battle it out, we brought two celebrated writers, Adam Gopnik and Will Self, to our stage.
After Donald Trump was elected, it seemed as if 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' had clinched it. The book shot to the top of the bestseller charts. It felt so ominously familiar. In Orwell’s dystopia, the corporate state controls the news, insisting that ‘whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth’. That sounds very like Trump’s ‘alternative facts’, and the war he is waging on the ‘fake news’ media. Orwell imagined two-way telescreens spying on every citizen’s home. Today we have Amazon’s ‘always listening’ Alexa device, while Google, Facebook and the security agencies hoover up our personal data for their own ends. Orwell also described an Inner Party – two percent of the population – enjoying all the privileges and political control. Isn’t that scarily close to the ‘one percent’, reviled for their wealth and influence by anti-capitalists today? No wonder everyone rushed out to buy the book.
But Orwell’s critics say 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' is a dated dystopia, a vision that died along with communism. The novel that better resonates with our present, they say, is 'Brave New World'. Here Aldous Huxley imagined a plastic techno-society where sex is casual, entertainment light and consumerism rampant. There are pills to make people happy, virtual reality shows to distract the masses from actual reality, and hook-ups to take the place of love and commitment. Isn’t that all a bit close to home? Huxley even imagined a caste system created by genetic engineering, from alpha and beta types right down to a slave underclass. We may not have gone down that road, but gene-editing might soon enable Silicon Valley’s super-rich to extend their lifespans and enhance the looks and intelligence of their offspring. Will we soon witness the birth of a new genetic super-class?
Both these novels imagined extraordinary futures, but which better captures our present and offers the keener warning about where we may be heading?
__________________________
Brilliant minds, debate, online events, ask your questions. Try Intelligence Squared +: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/plus/
WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE SQUARED+?
Intelligence Squared+ brings you live, interactive events online every week. You can ask your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events, live and on-demand, featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers.
Subscribe to Intelligence Squared+ today: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/plus/
Follow Intelligence Squared:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intelligencesquared/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intelligence2/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/intelligence2
Listen to our podcasts?
Intelligence Squared Podcast: https://play.acast.com/s/intelligencesquared
How I Found My Voice with Samira Ahmed: https://apple.co/32WnrPV
About Intelligence Squared:
Intelligence Squared has established itself as the leading forum for live, agenda-setting debates, talks and discussions around the world.
Our aim is to promote a global conversation that enables people to make informed decisions about the issues that matter, in the company of the world's greatest minds and orators.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) Trailer
AKA 1984
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
Director: Michael Radford
John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril C...
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) Trailer
AKA 1984
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
Director: Michael Radford
John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack, Gregor Fisher
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) Trailer
AKA 1984
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
Director: Michael Radford
John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack, Gregor Fisher
Winston Smith endures a squalid existence in totalitarian Oceania under the constant surveillance of Big Brother. But his life takes a horrifying turn when he begins a forbidden love affair and commits the crime of independent thought. Sent to the chillingly labelled "Ministry of Love", he is placed at the mercy of O'Brien (Burton), a coolly treacherous leader determined to control his thoughts and crush his soul...
Please also watch Bradbury's: Fahrenheit 451 ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0060390/ )
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (DVD)
The Fountainhead (DVD)
http://www.getwhatyoupayfor.com
http://imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
#1984 #GeorgeOrwell #PeterCushing
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a British television adaptation of the 1949 novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in December 1954. The production proved to be hugely controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over its supposed subversive nature and horrific content. In a 2000 poll of industry experts conducted by the British Film Institute to determine the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four was ranked in seventy-third position.
This is the trailer of the film representation of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and follows the story of two lovers in a society dominated by Big Brother.
Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published in June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime.
The story was mostly written at Barnhill, a farmhouse on the Scottish island of Jura, at times while Orwell suffered from severe tuberculosis. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the risks of government overreach, totalitarianism, and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviours within society.
The story takes place in an imagined future, the year 1984, when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda. Great Britain, known as Airstrip One, has become a province of a superstate named Oceania that is ruled by the Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking. Big Brother, the leader of the Party, enjoys an intense cult of personality despite the fact that he may not even exist. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent and skillful rank-and-file worker and Party member who secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. He enters a forbidden relationship with a co-worker, Julia. (Wikipedia)
The battle between two of the greatest dystopian novels Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four is strikingly urgent in our world of Donald Trump, 'fake news', and technological advances. On the Intelligence Squared stage, we have Will Self arguing for Brave New World and Adam Gopnik arguing for Nineteen Eighty-Four. The debate was chaired by Jonathan Freedland.
Dystopian books and films are in the zeitgeist. Reflecting the often dark mood of our times, Intelligence Squared are staging a contest between two of the greatest dystopian novels, 'Brave New World' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. Each book captured the nightmares of the 1930s and 40s. But which vision looks more prescient to us now in the 21st century? Are we living in George Orwell’s sinister surveillance state? Or in Aldous Huxley’s vapid consumerist culture? To battle it out, we brought two celebrated writers, Adam Gopnik and Will Self, to our stage.
After Donald Trump was elected, it seemed as if 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' had clinched it. The book shot to the top of the bestseller charts. It felt so ominously familiar. In Orwell’s dystopia, the corporate state controls the news, insisting that ‘whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth’. That sounds very like Trump’s ‘alternative facts’, and the war he is waging on the ‘fake news’ media. Orwell imagined two-way telescreens spying on every citizen’s home. Today we have Amazon’s ‘always listening’ Alexa device, while Google, Facebook and the security agencies hoover up our personal data for their own ends. Orwell also described an Inner Party – two percent of the population – enjoying all the privileges and political control. Isn’t that scarily close to the ‘one percent’, reviled for their wealth and influence by anti-capitalists today? No wonder everyone rushed out to buy the book.
But Orwell’s critics say 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' is a dated dystopia, a vision that died along with communism. The novel that better resonates with our present, they say, is 'Brave New World'. Here Aldous Huxley imagined a plastic techno-society where sex is casual, entertainment light and consumerism rampant. There are pills to make people happy, virtual reality shows to distract the masses from actual reality, and hook-ups to take the place of love and commitment. Isn’t that all a bit close to home? Huxley even imagined a caste system created by genetic engineering, from alpha and beta types right down to a slave underclass. We may not have gone down that road, but gene-editing might soon enable Silicon Valley’s super-rich to extend their lifespans and enhance the looks and intelligence of their offspring. Will we soon witness the birth of a new genetic super-class?
Both these novels imagined extraordinary futures, but which better captures our present and offers the keener warning about where we may be heading?
__________________________
Brilliant minds, debate, online events, ask your questions. Try Intelligence Squared +: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/plus/
WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE SQUARED+?
Intelligence Squared+ brings you live, interactive events online every week. You can ask your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events, live and on-demand, featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers.
Subscribe to Intelligence Squared+ today: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/plus/
Follow Intelligence Squared:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intelligencesquared/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intelligence2/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/intelligence2
Listen to our podcasts?
Intelligence Squared Podcast: https://play.acast.com/s/intelligencesquared
How I Found My Voice with Samira Ahmed: https://apple.co/32WnrPV
About Intelligence Squared:
Intelligence Squared has established itself as the leading forum for live, agenda-setting debates, talks and discussions around the world.
Our aim is to promote a global conversation that enables people to make informed decisions about the issues that matter, in the company of the world's greatest minds and orators.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) Trailer
AKA 1984
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
Director: Michael Radford
John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack, Gregor Fisher
Out in the fields, over hills and mountains Far from the blood we all came from The source of our dreams and ancient legends A fountain of truth for those who believe Come with me, dream with me There's much more than the eye can see Free your feel, feel your dream Don't hide from what you know should be We're on the quest for the Mystery Stone There's more to reach in your life There's more to find if you believe We're on the quest for the Mystery Stone The magic of the freedom that lies in everyone Hey! They come from the valleys, the hills and the desert The magical spirit will guide us all Search for the truth, search for the blind faith Long lost inside your frozen heart Come with me, dream with me There's much more than the eye can see Free your feel, feel your dream Don't hide from what you know should be We're on the quest for the Mystery Stone There's more to reach in your life There's more to find if you believe We're on the quest for the Mystery Stone The magic of the freedom that lies in everyone Hey! Come with me, dream with me There's much more than the eye can see Free your feel, feel your dream Don't hide from what you know should be We're on the quest for the Mystery Stone There's more to reach in your life There's more to find if you believe We're on the quest for the Mystery Stone The magic of the freedom that lies in everyone Hey!