Psychologically, this conditioning also lowers these classes to the status of animals. In his example, Deltas learn to avoid roses and books by giving them electric shocks when they touch those items.
Huxley expands this concept to humans, who use it to condition the babies of the lower classes. Pavlovian conditioning comes from Pavlov’s research, which showed that animals could learn to do an action through punishment and reward. The comment by the Director, "What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder," reveals the extent that the conditioning can alter behavior. Science creates and conditions people to become happy members of society. Huxley reveals some of the main sources of social stability. Sleeping babies listen to repeated catchphrases, and in this chapter, infant Betas listen to a tape played hundreds of times which indoctrinates them to believe they are superior to Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons, but not as clever as Alphas. The students also view a group of sleeping infants who receive moral instruction through hypnopaedic learning as they sleep. This discourages behavior that might destabilize society, such as allowing Deltas to read books and acquire knowledge. Here, the use of electric shocks and sirens in response to touching roses or books modifies the behavior of Deltas. They watch "Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning," a technique that trains infants. The students continue their tour of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. The society described by Huxley is therefore a "utilitarian totalitarianism." The goal of utilitarianism is to make the society "happier" and thus more efficient. Social conditioning and stunted development maximizes each person’s happiness. Thus, Alphas receive challenging jobs and Epsilons receive grunt work that would be boring for higher caste members. Limiting the intelligence of each person to fit their future job is one way this society makes them happy. The fundamental tenet behind the society is utilitarianism, which describes a society that seeks to create the maximum happiness. "Stability" occurs through the limitations placed on the intelligence of each group. Huxley shows how "identity" comes from the Conditioning Centre through the selection of the embryos into each of five groups. Huxley generates "community" by dividing the population into segments, where the Alphas serve as intellectual superiors and Epsilons function as pure menial labor. The social motto "Community, Identity, Stability" frames this social structure.
Huxley creates a society that frowns on individual creativity and that only welcomes those who conform. The regime must then ensure that people are happy all the time, be able to control the behavior of each individual, and ensure that independent thinkers are forbidden from disturbing the social fabric. Huxley stated in Brave New World Revisited that the only way to create a permanently stable society is for a totalitarian regime to have absolute power. While few critics have called the governmental regime "totalitarian" in nature, Huxley explicitly describes it as such. The idea of totalitarian social stability occurs first in this chapter.
Thus, the Alphas represent the intellectually superior group, followed by the Betas, and continuing down to the Epsilons, who have little to no intelligence. The Centre conditions all the non-Alpha and Beta embryos for their future status in society by dividing them into Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Only the Alphas and Betas come from single eggs that are not budded and hence have no twins. The society contains a five-tiered caste system that ranks Alphas and Betas on top. Predestinators then decide the future function of each embryo within the society, essentially assigning a future job to each human. The scientists take an ovary, remove and fertilize the eggs, force the eggs to bud up to ninety-six times, and subsequently grow the embryos in bottles. The students view various machines and techniques used to promote the production and conditioning of embryos. A group of students receives a tour of the facilities by the Director. The novel begins at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center, a production factory for human beings.
The underlying principle of the regime is utilitarianism, or maximizing the overall happiness of the society. The world has submitted to domination by World Controllers, whose primary goal is to ensure the stability and happiness of society. Brave New World occurs six hundred years in the future.
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