Human Loops; More Brave New World Themes

Published November 4, 2016 · Updated July 6, 2022

While in the lab, Sylvester first ridicules Felix’s plan to obtain a promotion by fixing the little birdy by pointing out the Felix is not an ornithologist or a coder. He then states that Felix is a butcher and will always be a butcher. Shortly thereafter, after noticing Felix’s reaction to Maeve, Sylvester questions how Felix was able to obtain his job and states that “the personality test should have weeded him out in the embryo.”

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Does this mean that each human is created in a lab and assigned roles based on some sort of prenatal personality test? If so, it makes me wonder if the humans are all that different from the hosts (i.e. the humans have their own loops of sorts and any deviation from their predetermined roles is width= viewed as an aberration).

This view seems to be reinforced by the fact that the scene between Sylvester and Felix takes place almost immediately after Dr. Ford gets done deriding Dolores for failing to carry out Arnold’s plan to destroy the park because she has been content to be “in her little loop” and was unable to imagine a bigger role for herself.

As a previous telegram mentioned, these themes seem heavily influenced by the plot of A Brave New World, where humans are hatched in a lab and separated at the fetal stage into different castes of society (and conditioned based on the assigned caste) and where nonconformity and critical thought is considered taboo and recreational sex is promoted to prevent the formation of any deeper emotional connections or attachments.

The Man in Black even discusses the utopian society where everything is provided to its citizens. His description resembles the utopian society enjoyed by the upper castes in A Brave New World which is hedonistic and materialistic.

Kurt Vonnegut also wrote a book entitled “Player Piano” which he admitted borrowed heavily from the plot of A Brave New World. Vonnegut viewed the player piano as a symbol of the lack of the lack of human purpose that happens with automation. Even the recreational task of learning and playing a piano will be replaced by machines leaving humans with a lack of purpose. In the intro to WestWorld, there are initially hands playing the piano which are later removed to reveal that the piano is playing itself using the player piano scroll. I probably need to go back and read Player Piano to better compare the plot to what we have seen so far on the show.

In any event, I have rambled on long enough. I truly look forward to your insightful podcast discussions and recommend it to every person that tells me they watch the show on HBO. Keep up the great work! – Ken

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