Aldous Huxley on Technodictators

January 13, 2026

“If you want to preserve your power indefinitely, you have to get the consent of the ruled” - Aldous Huxley

Interview by Mike Wallace on May 18, 1958, from the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin

“This is Aldous Huxley, a man haunted by a vision of hell on earth. Mr. Huxley wrote a Brave New World, a novel that predicted that some day the entire world would live under a frightful dictatorship. Today Mr. Huxley says that his fictional world of horror is probably just around the corner for all of us.” - Mike Wallace

In this remarkable interview, Huxley foretells a future when telegenic presidential hopefuls use television to rise to power, technology takes over, drugs grab hold, and frightful dictatorships rule us all.

Enjoy the journey and tell us in the comments whether he was right.

Learn more about Aldous Huxley, including his connections with The Doors and Carl Sagan, on our website: http://blankonblank.org/aldous-huxley/

Subscribe for new episodes every other Tuesday… it’s free: http://bit.ly/1TO2vCL

Recent Episodes

Bob Dylan at 20 on Freak Shows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrgs5ss0dv8

Patti Smith in 1976 on Getting Bleeped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbCc0XKj8A

Frank Zappa in 1971 on Fads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5WEU30Iods

Tom Waits on Everything and Nothing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyrDfCSZJmI

Martin Scorsese on Framing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGyYOQbKDIQ

Carl Sagan on Extraterrestrials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9WHs49nlHk

David Bowie on Stardust https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFIDXXDsxAo

Lou Reed on Guns & Ammo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcd9BS2Ty_M

Kurt Vonnegut on Man-Eating Lampreys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzWMHIiGgWU

Credits

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER David Gerlach

ANIMATOR Patrick Smith

PRODUCER Amy Drozdowska

COLORIST Jennifer Yoo

Music via APM

“Pathways” Stephen James Root

“Das Funtfe Streichquartett” Viera Janarcekova

“Frozen Wonder” Marc Frederick Teitler

Help us caption & translate this video!

http://amara.org/v/ViJ3/

Reply via email