The impact of technology on humanity: A comparison of the novels "Brave New World" and "Never Let Me Go"

ABSTRACT Dystopian works present a more pessimistic, restrictive, and complex world in the future or an alternative 'present' due to technological and scientific advances. This study compares two seminal dystopian works of modern literature, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, examining the potential effects of science and technology on individuals and society. Both works reveal that technological and scientific developments can have significant impacts not only in terms of development and improvement, but also at ethical, social, and psychological levels, and discuss this through their discourses. This research highlights the fictional and critical relationship that dystopian literature as a genre establishes with technology, focusing particularly on concepts such as the individual-society relationship, identity, freedoms, moral values, and human nature. In his book, Brave New World, Huxley describes a futuristic society where humans are mass-produced in laboratories through genetic engineering, serial 'human' production, and conditioning strategies; classified according to different roles and responsibilities; where technology is seen as a means of control in almost every area of life; where happiness is achieved through synthetic means; and where individual freedom is almost completely eliminated. In such a world, technology is also presented as a functional tool that shapes fundamental human areas and institutions such as free will, family, religion, and sexuality. In his work, Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro focuses on the meaning of human existence, relationships, educational institutions, and the risks of health technologies through the experiences of cloned individuals in a more personal and subtle social context. The future of the Hailsham students, 'created' as organ donors, is predetermined, their destinies mapped out by the system. In the novel, the author engages in a profound examination of emotional relationships, personal rights, and moral responsibilities, while also prompting reflection on the alienating and corrupting effects of genetic technologies on humanity. In this comparative study, the potential effects of technological intervention on the nature of the individual and society are examined through these two works, an ethical discussion of a technology-focused life is conducted, and the perspectives within dystopian literature are analyzed. The analyses reveal that technology is treated as a social threat and a means of control in both works, that individuality is at risk, and that the fragility of human nature is exposed. Based on these findings, it can be argued that a multidisciplinary approach encompassing not only technical and practical aspects but also social, moral, philosophical, psychological, and cultural dimensions would be more functional in technology debates.