6. Aldous Huxley Predicted Antidepressant Medication (And Its Abuse)
"All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects."
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is often paired alongside George Orwell's 1984 as one of the twentieth centuries great works of dystopic fiction. The story centres around the World State, a dictatorship that limits the population and conditions society to accept their station in life. In the novel, Soma is a drug that's used by society as a coping mechanism; a way of ignoring and forgetting the horrors of reality. Soma elevates happiness and leaves users in a delirious, dreamlike high. In essence, Brave New World not only predicted anti-depressant medication, it also predicted its systematic abuse.
"...there is always soma, delicious Soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon..."
