Assignment
1. What place does amusement have in the England of Brave New World? What about leisure?
2. Why wouldn't the citizens of Huxley's Brave New World enjoy or understand a tragedy, like Shakespeare's Othello? (Remember Aristotle's explanation of tragedy.)
3. Would you want to live in the world Huxley describes? Or step into Nozick's "Experience Machine?"
Required Reading: Chapters 1-4, Chapter 11 (especially the last several pages about "the feelies"), and Chapters 16 and 17.
1. Neil Postman argues that the medium or means of communication affects the content of what gets communicated. How does modern communication technology, including television and the internet, affect the messages we hear and the information we receive?
2. Postman is concerned that areas of life that are not for the purpose of entertainment are being turned into entertainment. What are the implications of Postman's book for entertainment and amusement themselves?
Reading :
1. The Experience Machine By Robert Nozick
2. The Medium is the Metaphor