Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"

Huxley is the master of that science fiction writer's art of predicting the future with one's writing. In an age where drugs are advertised on billboards, pens, and notepads everywhere, I find the following quote from his book Brave New World, to be especially true.

""Free, free!" the savage shouted, and with one hand continued to throw the soma into the area while, with the other, he punched the indistinguishable faces of his assailants. "Free!" And suddenly there was Helmholtz at his side-- "Good old Helmholtz!" --Also punching-- "Men at last!" --and in the interval also throwing the poison out by handfuls through the open window. "Yes, men! men!" and there was no more poison left. He picked up the cash box and showed them its black emptiness. "You're free!""

-Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Harper & Row, New York, 1932.

Pharmaceutical companies routinely cover-up and ignore negative safety studies of their newest drugs that they've invested millions of dollars to make, more concerned with at least recouping the money if not making a huge profit. It's an endless cycle of curing only the symptoms and not the problem. People get hooked on an endless train of pharmaceuticals, while the concept of people taking real responsibility for their bodies, emotions, and lifestyle choices becomes more obscure.