In 1937, a British science fiction writer imagined a future where all human knowledge would be instantly accessible to everyone. Today, we call it the Internet. But H.G. Wells saw more than just technology. "The world has a
World Brain to which, ultimately, all knowledge is to be addressed," he wrote, "and it has a nervous system of road, railway, and air communication which is already beginning to bind mankind into a whole." His vision went beyond mere information sharing. Through "
The Open Conspiracy," he called for "a movement of all that is intelligent in the world," explicitly advocating for technocratic governance by a scientific elite who would gradually assume control of society. “The Open Conspiracy must be, from its very inception, a world movement, and not merely an English movement or a Western movement. It must be a movement of all that is intelligent in the world.” Wells here laid out his schema for a class of educated, rational individuals who would lead this global transformation. Even his fictional work "
Shape of Things to Come" reads like a blueprint, particularly in its description of how a pandemic might facilitate global governance.
This plan found its institutional expression through Julian Huxley at UNESCO. 'The general philosophy of UNESCO should be a scientific world humanism, global in extent and evolutionary in background,' he declared as its first Director-General. Through works like “
Religion Without Revelation” (1927), Huxley didn't merely suggest replacing traditional faith - he outlined a new religious orthodoxy with Science as its deity and experts as its priesthood. This quasi-religious devotion to scientific authority would become the framework for today's unquestioning acceptance of expert proclamations on everything from vaccine mandates to climate policies. Most civilians lack the specialized knowledge to evaluate these complex technical issues, yet are expected to embrace them with religious fervor - “trust the science” becoming the modern equivalent of “trust in faith.” This blind deference to scientific authority, precisely as Huxley envisioned, has transformed science from a method of inquiry into a system of belief.
The Huxley family provided the intellectual architecture for this transformation. Julian Huxley's "scientific world humanism" at UNESCO established the institutional framework, while his brother Aldous revealed the psychological methodology. In
his 1958 interview with Mike Wallace, Aldous Huxley explained how rapid technological change could overwhelm populations, making them "lose their capacity for critical analysis." His description of "control through overwhelm" perfectly describes our current state of constant technological disruption, where people are too disoriented by rapid change to effectively resist new control systems.
Most crucially, Huxley emphasized the importance of "gradual" implementation - suggesting that by carefully pacing technological and social changes, resistance could be managed and new control systems normalized over time. This strategy of gradualism, mirroring the Fabian Society's approach, can be seen in everything from the slow erosion of privacy rights to the incremental implementation of digital surveillance systems. His warning about psychological conditioning through media foreshadowed today's social media algorithms and digital behavior modification.
Zbigniew Brzezinski's "
Between Two Ages" expanded this framework, describing a coming "technetronic era" marked by surveillance of citizens, control through technology, manipulation of behavior, and global information networks. He was remarkably explicit about this blueprint: “The technetronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values... Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.” Today, many might recognize his daughter Mika Brzezinski as co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe - while her father shaped geopolitical theory, she would go on to influence public opinion through media, demonstrating how establishment influence adapts across generations
Wells' framework of a “World Brain” - an interconnected global information network - has become a reality through the rise of artificial intelligence and the Internet. This centralization of knowledge and data mirrors the technocratic ambition for an AI-powered global society, as exemplified by initiatives like the
AI World Society (AIWS).
George Orwell's predictions have become our daily reality: telescreens tracking our movements have become smart devices with always-on cameras and microphones. Newspeak limiting acceptable speech emerged as content moderation and political correctness. The memory hole erasing inconvenient facts operates through digital censorship and "fact-checking." Thought crime punishing wrong opinions appears as social credit systems and digital reputation scores. Perpetual war maintaining control continues through endless conflicts and the "war on terror."
Consider how major publications systematically preview coming technological transformations: mainstream media's promotion of the "never offline" mentality preceded widespread adoption of wearable surveillance devices that now converge human biology and digital technology - what's now called the "
Internet of Bodies.”
These aren't random predictions - they represent coordinated efforts to acclimate the public to increasingly invasive technologies that blur the boundaries between the physical and digital realms. This pattern of previewing control systems through mainstream media serves a dual purpose: it normalizes surveillance while positioning resistance as futile or backward-looking. By the time these systems are fully implemented, the public has already been conditioned to accept them as inevitable progress.
If Orwell showed us the stick, Huxley revealed the carrot. While Orwell warned of control through pain, Huxley predicted control through pleasure. His dystopia of genetic castes, widespread mood-altering drugs, and endless entertainment parallels our world of CRISPR technology, psychiatric medication, and digital addiction.
While the theoretical foundations were established through visionaries like Wells and Huxley, implementing their ideas required institutional frameworks. The transformation from abstract concepts to global control systems would emerge through carefully crafted networks of influence.
