Xiafei Road, the new world.

I still vaguely remember that the "New World Restaurant" on Xiafei Road, the seven-story mansion next to the public management office in the French Concession, used to be so lively, but now... Marshal Zhang, Zongbing Li, and Wen Wen What kind of lord, a bunch of big people with flashy ghost cards, they used to be regulars. Hehe, Mr. Wen has a small white and delicate face. I have met eyes several times. Well, it's just a "foreign rabbit"...A-guan? Yes, Master Rabbit of Beijing dialect, listen! So elegant.

You said that night? I'm still very impressed... It's Xi Yuan... No, looking at the bad mouth, I forgot that it was the twenty-sixth day of July in the 90th year of Xiyuan... I came out of the Cathay Pacific Theater at night and bought it from Aunt Mei. After frying chestnuts with a pound of sugar, I took a look at the uncertain climate of Shanghai River, and I saw... That person, dressed in a long coat, with a graceful demeanor under the bright moonlight, can be said to be a rare talent from all over the world. , hey, I'm not afraid to be ashamed when I talk about it... He walked into the gate of the "new world" alone...

Three steps into two steps, like a horsewhip behind me, I ran back to the restaurant like Xue Pinggui, stepped on a French lace heel, and stepped up to the second floor. After I got the card from Mother Wu, I hurriedly sat down to make up some extra-grade gouache and rouge. Voila! Yuling and Wubao had already walked downstairs for more than a round, and this shy snort even pushed open the half-closed old wooden door earlier than Master Hua Jinjin's cheongsam.

"What are you talking about... 'This world, maybe the hell of another planet!' ... It's weird, if it wasn't for the generous hand and the two Xi Datou silver treasures, I would have left long ago."

"That's because Sister Ling, you have a good attitude, and Sister Bao wants to learn more from you... It's also interesting to say, how can you go to a restaurant without getting drunk, just tell stories with me... What's 'John' ? It's his brother Still my grandfather? I really want to tell him: "Nong a red guy" !"

The sparrows in the treetops squeak, and Yingyan in the restaurant also squeaks?

Master Lu's orchestra is playing American music from across the sea, saying that the lyrics of this song quite echo the name of the restaurant, what is Wonder Buddha? Forget to live? Hehe, I don't understand English, so I can only laugh silly when I hear it, just like an Amulin who has never seen the world.

"Girl, do you want to hear a story?"

"Hey, uncle, you have never been to the 'New World', so why don't you give me a glass of wine if you talk to me?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, I just came today and I'm leaving tomorrow, so I have to seize the opportunity to finish the story... What does the girl like to drink?"

The old Su at the bar is from Meishan, Sichuan. He is unsmiling. In addition to understanding wine, he is good food. He usually cooks a cup of Dongpo pork that is more delicious than the chef at the consulate... But I heard this new uncle is stupid. In response, Lao Su said nothing, and treated a glass of aged brandy as a treat. "No meat makes people thin, no wine makes people sad", his motto.

 "The story takes place in the scientific era "Ford Year 632", in which the "Car King" Ford (1863-1947) was regarded as God and Allah, which is the symbol of Ford's "Model T" (Ford Model T, historical The 632nd year after the first car that was assembled on a large-scale assembly line with mass-produced general-purpose components)!

Since human beings look forward to accelerating the continuous evolution of the world as a whole, they are constantly pursuing technological growth and economic development... In fact, the innovation of industrial and commercial products has indeed brought about significant material progress, but hidden in The invisible disaster behind it is the word "civilization" accumulated by human beings themselves. The so-called spirituality and self-esteem of the king of the earth, as a human being, are gradually regressing under the trend of scientific supremacy, and even quietly approaching "extinction". way.

Therefore, in "Ford Year 632", a new world full of bright prospects and solid dreams, human beings have long since been completely disconnected from human nature (spirituality) and have become a laboratory model of rationality and careful control. Afterwards, it is an organic life that is destined for a lifetime of identity and destiny!

Regardless of social class, consumption pattern, morality (values), learning intelligence or leisure and entertainment, they are completely and completely indistinguishable. They are all planned and arranged by a set of "systems"! In addition, pregnancy in October is a dream of the past... Every baby has been cultivated in a test tube and born in a high-tech laboratory! Then he was "organized" all the way to the level he was supposed to be in, and to perform the work that he was supposed to do in his life, so the whole world has moved forward so much that there is no need to use any book, and no longer need to learn any kind of language……

Human beings, the spirit of all things, the only legitimate entertainment that can numb the nerves of the self at this moment is irresponsible sex; if there are unnecessary emotional problems, the antidote is hallucinogen, Soma! "

Lao Su didn't know when he held my hand, and it was still a little tight. Is the story fascinating? Or do you want to take advantage of me? The uncle in Changyi took out a long box from his pocket, the front was red, and there was a... a bit of an apple painted on it? There are also a few big black dots and a few small white dots, what is this strange thing? The back is black with some mirrors... wait! With a light touch, the black screen instantly turned into a moving pattern? The back is the front? Is it Maoshan Taoism or a fairy descended to earth? Like a white snake turning into a lady? Lao Su... poured two cups of realgar full of bootlegging, I just needed it.

 "In this 'new world', in order to pursue the best interests of all, the 'organization' eliminates the individuality and self-consciousness that may exist in each individual, so everyone is forced not to be alone! Individuals are either working or forced to play. , and it must be a group entertainment! You are not you, you will not be you, you cannot be you, you...are one of "us".

Recreational activities keep everyone happy, but on the other hand, they leave no time for alone time to think or reflect... In the end, Brave New World is like a second "Eden" or "Paradise Lost" ', there is no need for human beings to continue to exist in any so-called art, science, and history, and there is absolutely no chance to trigger thinking or logic!

In addition, male and female love does not carry any emotion, it is purely an entertainment in life! The means of venting desire with sex without love, naturally, the family, love, and parents that we knew in the past have all become historical terms! Not to be mentioned, nor suggested to be awakened...for the motto of the new world has been defined by the "organization" as:

Shared, unified, stable! "

"It's...a bit creepy, it's kind of scary, I'm not me, I won't be me, I can't be me, I...is one of 'you'? Is there any point in living?

What the organization says and what the system says is, am I still a human ? "

Waiting for my answer, Lao Su poured a glass of wine for the new uncle.

"I can only say this, 'A world lacking independent thinking does not have any freedom at all...' . It is fate to meet by chance. Please do your best, and don't forget to protect the universal value of independent thinking. It's late at night. , I should also say goodbye."

The uncle took out the money for the wine, and then handed me a book, saying that he wrote it himself, a story, a prophecy, a fable, and he wanted to give it to me; he didn’t ask for silver or change as a reward, but only the book , Yan Ruyu? Golden House? It really seems a little cautious... but you must not show it.

That night, I accompanied Principal Jiang and Boss Sun again, left the restaurant, crossed Xiafei Road at midnight, and slowly walked into the tree-lined Zhu Erdian Road... Back to the house, the moonlight sprinkled in the leaves through the moonlight The gap, I saw the title with the author for the first time.

Brave New World

Huxley (Aldous Leonard Huxley, 1894-1963)

"A gray building squatted there. Only thirty-four floors. There are a few large characters written on the upper edge of the front..."

Epilogue (1):

July 26 Famous birthday: "Grim Prophet" Huxley (1894-1963)

As if seeing the future with precision, the extraordinary master who laid the foundation stone of dystopia in the western literary world, as a member of the prominent Huxley family in the UK, Aldous graduated with first-class honors from Beoli, Oxford University. Balliol College, Oxford, but he did not take his family's most outstanding biology as his research ambition. Instead, he devoted himself to rigorous writing since he was in his twenties, and even completed the immortal "Brave New World". Book.

Published between the two world wars, Brave New World, which came out in 1932, can be said to be a rare work in the West with both science fiction and prophetic (fable) style at that time, but why did the novel cause such a Sensational, is it regarded as an iconic classic by followers today?

Mainly since the middle of the nineteenth century, with the rapid economic development brought about by industrialization and mechanization, Europe and the United States and other countries have successfully pushed the world situation to a high degree of commercial competition and capitalism . However, problems such as the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the inequitable distribution of resources, the rise of overseas predatory colonialism and so on have also emerged in various regions . Therefore, Huxley set the story time in London in 2540 AD through the novel, which is the year 632 of the Ford year of the scientific era!

Bold and incisive, it introduces the popular concept of science first (rationality is king), and builds a "Brave New World" that will terrify new civilization in the future. The development of the story is not only avant-garde, but also ingeniously hits the point where human beings are keen on the development of science and technology. The value deviation of the crisis, more appropriately alert to the high intellectuals who took science as their ultimate belief, so this book not only affects the creative thinking of many future generations of the same type of science fiction literature, but also set off a discussion in the field of literature and non-literature!

Brave New World is currently ranked fifth in the "Modern Library 100 Best Novels in the 20th Century" selected by the New York Public Library, and it is also the first among British writers. One of the top 100 novels in English by the American "TIME" magazine!

Think about it, compared to the dissemination of fake news on today's major social networking sites (FB, IG, LINE, etc.), the hidden brainwashing methods in the elders' greeting map, the ideology that is quietly implanted in the exclusive news, and other behaviors that kill brain cells , who is it? Can we enjoy the freedom of thinking under high technology? you? I? Or have we simply fallen into the nineteenth floor of hell called the Information Cage?

Epilogue (two):

Dialogue from Shakespeare's The Tempest:

"How beautiful mankind is! Ah! A beautiful new world, with such people in it!" (How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in it.)

Image source, together with thanks to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World