What does the world of Anthem imply about the nature of technological progress? The society in the beginning of Anthem is a collective society with no room for any independence and it is a society that is very technologically primitive. The collective society of Anthem does not allow for innovation because they reject new ideas, frown upon independent thinking, and restrict people from doing what they want. These three ideas of the collective society block all innovation and research from the majority of the population so nobody can help improve the society with their ideas, which is why the society still uses things like candles when the past societies were clearly more technologically advanced. The leaders in Anthem clearly do not want
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“‘What is not done collectively cannot be good,’ said International 1-5537.” This quote supports that their society is based upon collectivism and anything that is not done that way is bad and cannot be used. Equality’s invention, for example, was made by him alone and because of this, the Council of Scholars thought it must be destroyed because it was not made by everyone. This is a big hurdle to jump over for anyone in the society who wants to create anything new. If a member of their society wanted to create something, then they would have to involve everyone in the innovation just for it to pass one of the hundreds of rules that the Council of Scholars set to impede innovation and new ideas. “‘Many men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new ideas in the past,’ said Solidarity 8-1164, ‘but when the majority of their brother Scholars voted against them, they abandoned their ideas, as all men must.’” This quote proves that when the rest of the society does not agree with the new idea, it must be abandoned. It cannot be improved or remade. This idea prevents a lot of great things. In our current world, there are many great inventions we use every day that in one point of their creation, nobody believed in them. One of the best examples is the computer. Ken Olsen, who founded Digital Equipment Corp, said in 1977, “There is …show more content…
In Anthem’s society, the profession of everyone is chosen at a young age then they must do that chosen profession for the rest of their life. This restricts how people live their life. Equality, for example, wanted to be put in the House of Scholars so he could learn more and innovate, but he was put in the House of the Street Sweepers instead. This limited Equality’s from asking more questions about the world and inventing things. The only reason he could invent his creation is because he found a secret place where he could be alone. Most of the people in the society did not get an opportunity like Equality did so nobody can innovate how they all live their lives. Only people that are in the Council of Scholars can even think of innovating, but the only people that the society puts in these high positions are people that will conform to the collective ideas and will not try to improve the society. The inability to innovate and improve society is clearly the reason that the society in Anthem is so primitive in terms of technology and science. The majority of the population is not in a position to innovate which renders the majority of the society useless in terms. This restriction is one of the three reasons the society lacks almost any
“‘What is not done collectively cannot be good,’ said International 1-5537.” This quote supports that their society is based upon collectivism and anything that is not done that way is bad and cannot be used. Equality’s invention, for example, was made by him alone and because of this, the Council of Scholars thought it must be destroyed because it was not made by everyone. This is a big hurdle to jump over for anyone in the society who wants to create anything new. If a member of their society wanted to create something, then they would have to involve everyone in the innovation just for it to pass one of the hundreds of rules that the Council of Scholars set to impede innovation and new ideas. “‘Many men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new ideas in the past,’ said Solidarity 8-1164, ‘but when the majority of their brother Scholars voted against them, they abandoned their ideas, as all men must.’” This quote proves that when the rest of the society does not agree with the new idea, it must be abandoned. It cannot be improved or remade. This idea prevents a lot of great things. In our current world, there are many great inventions we use every day that in one point of their creation, nobody believed in them. One of the best examples is the computer. Ken Olsen, who founded Digital Equipment Corp, said in 1977, “There is …show more content…
In Anthem’s society, the profession of everyone is chosen at a young age then they must do that chosen profession for the rest of their life. This restricts how people live their life. Equality, for example, wanted to be put in the House of Scholars so he could learn more and innovate, but he was put in the House of the Street Sweepers instead. This limited Equality’s from asking more questions about the world and inventing things. The only reason he could invent his creation is because he found a secret place where he could be alone. Most of the people in the society did not get an opportunity like Equality did so nobody can innovate how they all live their lives. Only people that are in the Council of Scholars can even think of innovating, but the only people that the society puts in these high positions are people that will conform to the collective ideas and will not try to improve the society. The inability to innovate and improve society is clearly the reason that the society in Anthem is so primitive in terms of technology and science. The majority of the population is not in a position to innovate which renders the majority of the society useless in terms. This restriction is one of the three reasons the society lacks almost any