In many ways, Brave New World is the perfect counterpart to 1984. Where the latter paints a twisted dystopian picture of the future, with an intellectually suppressed population by a totalitarian government, the former achieves a similar scenario through distribution of drugs, mindless entertainment and consumerism.

The beauty of this novel lies in its subtlety. It is (IMO) simpler to empathize with revolutionaries in a dystopian state where an individual is very obviously suppressed. It is also simpler to imagine how war can be used for capitalism, how history can be re-written to mislead the general population and how propaganda can seriously affect the mindset of an entire country. What is harder is to realize that you are no better off in this pseudo-utopian society. By maintaining a genetically controlled population, who are literally conditioned to feel fortunate about their status in society, to not want more or less, by fulfilling their social needs through a culture of consumerism (ending is better than mending), thoughtless entertainment, casual intimacy (everyone belongs to everyone), and side-effect free drugs (a gramme is better than a damn), the government achieves the perfect state of stability and satiety. The cost is of course suppression of science, art and culture, which are innately intellectually stimulating.

A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.