1932 - "Brave New World" Published

In 1932, English writer Aldous Huxley published his iconic novel Brave New World. This book brought the idea of the artificial uterus to the big audience, like never before, and still holds value as one of the most significant references in the sometimes heated debates on the subject of human reproductive technologies.

The story is set in London in the year 632 A.F. (After Ford - A.D. 2540 in the Gregorian Calendar) and depicts a dystopian society where sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, drug use and classical conditioning are combined to profoundly change society. Human babies are ‘grown’ in glass bottles in baby factories and ‘natural’ childbirth is considered disgusting. The book cannot be read without taking the context of the eugenics movement in consideration. This movement was well established at the moment of publication and got a very negative reputation during WWII due to Nazi breeding programs, such as the Lebensborn program.

However controversial, the novel anticipated developments in reproductive technologies, such as ectogenesis (the artificial womb), and therefore it still is a very important cultural reference when discussing matters related to human reproductive technologies. Some of its cover arts feature powerful imagery, that established some of the strongest visual clichés that we might have to overcome one day.

This article is part of the Artificial Womb research project by NNN. The goal of this project is to develop thought-provoking scenarios that facilitate a much-needed discussion about the way technology radically alters our attitude towards reproduction, gender, relationships and love in the 21st century. We highly value your feedback or input, contributions can be sent to womb@nextnature.net.

Images: AbeBooks