A Different Society

[gotmilk9991]

First I have two things to ask of the readers before they read this. I am writing a political sci-fi novel and need opinions. Here are my first two conceptions that I hope for my fellow philosophical enthusiasts to keep in mind.

1. The tehnology mentioned is, in the context of the story, already attained and used.
2. By whatever ways, this new government mentioned, has been able to use the technology in a widespread fashion without resistance.

So by way of technology how would a society act when no emotions are used? As in, for example, the movie Equilibrium, where society takes injections that supress' emotions. Art in this world is gone, no music, no poetry, no writing, nothing. People are trapt and unable to do anything individual, to desensitize the world to past atrocities, everyone in the world has been named after certain people, such as Adolf Hilter, Josef Stalin, or Mussolini, do you [the reader] think that this type of desenstizing would work?

[Arjuna]

Originally Posted by gotmilk9991

First I have two things to ask of the readers before they read this. I am writing a political sci-fi novel and need opinions. Here are my first two conceptions that I hope for my fellow philosophical enthusiasts to keep in mind.

1. The tehnology mentioned is, in the context of the story, already attained and used.
2. By whatever ways, this new government mentioned, has been able to use the technology in a widespread fashion without resistance.

So by way of technology how would a society act when no emotions are used? As in, for example, the movie Equilibrium, where society takes injections that supress' emotions. Art in this world is gone, no music, no poetry, no writing, nothing. People are trapt and unable to do anything individual, to desensitize the world to past atrocities, everyone in the world has been named after certain people, such as Adolf Hilter, Josef Stalin, or Mussolini, do you [the reader] think that this type of desenstizing would work?

Our history is part of our identity. It sounds like your fictional culture wants to consciously shape its own identity. So it works to take "nature" into its hands. What would be the motive for that?

This is kin to dystopic visions like We, 1984, and Brave New World, all of which propose societies in which the powerful are all malice and no love... thus the societies described are nothing more than representations of self mutilation... headed toward self annihilation... (like in the case of Communism.) Each book suggests that life and identity grow and evolve on their own... like plants... we let them grow.. we can't make them grow because as much as we may hope to supersede nature, we don't own the magic of nature.. we don't own life, we are life.

[3k1yp2]

they wouldn't act because they wouldn't care; they would just do. They would focus on survival i guess. sorry if its a breach of the rules to be on here even thouh i don't fit the age criteria.

[Pepijn Sweep]

Sure about the novel? Maybe it's more fun to see what you can do with all this data. Sorry to see it doesn't work well to prevent terrorism, financial implosions etc.

[Deckard]

It would be challenging to write the narrative in the first person. How would a person completely without emotion write? Why would a person without emotion write?

[curiouscat]

What is the goal of a society without emotion?

[mister kitten]

Originally Posted by curiouscat

What is the goal of a society without emotion?

Show us we need them.

[curiouscat]

Originally Posted by mister kitten

Show us we need them.

good point. Otherwise we'd just be organic robots.

[mister kitten]

Originally Posted by curiouscat

good point. Otherwise we'd just be organic robots.

Eating, sh*ting, sleeping, repeating...

[Pyrrho]

Originally Posted by gotmilk9991

First I have two things to ask of the readers before they read this. I am writing a political sci-fi novel and need opinions. Here are my first two conceptions that I hope for my fellow philosophical enthusiasts to keep in mind.

1. The tehnology mentioned is, in the context of the story, already attained and used.
2. By whatever ways, this new government mentioned, has been able to use the technology in a widespread fashion without resistance.

So by way of technology how would a society act when no emotions are used? As in, for example, the movie Equilibrium, where society takes injections that supress' emotions. Art in this world is gone, no music, no poetry, no writing, nothing. People are trapt and unable to do anything individual, to desensitize the world to past atrocities, everyone in the world has been named after certain people, such as Adolf Hilter, Josef Stalin, or Mussolini, do you [the reader] think that this type of desenstizing would work?

If one were successful in completely eliminating emotions, all of the people would die, because they would do nothing. The reason you eat is because you want to eat; take away the desire, and you do not eat. The reason you get out of the way of a speeding car in the road is because you do not want to be hit by it. Take away the desire to not be hit, and you no longer have a motive to get out of the way.

"Desire", of course, is feeling, which means it is emotion.

This, by the way, is one of the absurdities of the original idea presented of Vulcans in Star Trek, as a life of pure logic is impossible. Without emotion, there would be no goals at all, and so one would not act at all. Of course, in Star Trek, they quickly abandoned the idea of Vulcans being purely logical after all, but that is beside the point.

Logic and reason are good for being able to find the means to achieve one's goals, so they are extremely important. But they never set any ultimate goals.