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Robert Heinlein's idea of the perfect crowd control drug- would you take Happiness daily? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 year ago by verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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In Robert Heinlein's novel "Farnham's Freehold", the protagonists accidentally end up in a very technologically advanced feudal society that depends on a drug called "Happiness" to control things and keep social classes rigidly separated. The hypothesis of this question: the drug is a pleasant tasting drink you take daily. It has no known negative side effects. It rapidly induces a feeling of deep contentment, peace, clarity of mind and general satisfaction with your life. You will not become physically dependent on it. You don't have to pay anything to get it. A small, unchanging dose must be taken every day to maintain this effect, but you don't control its distribution. It is distributed by the ruling class of your society, but no one is coerced to take it, as they are psychologically dependent on it. After many centuries of Happiness distribution, no one has shown desensitization or needed a higher dose. The protagonists in the book rejected their doses, escaped briefly and were recaptured. Would you take Happiness? Why or why not?

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[–] Uranium_Green@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I kind of agree with other person who said it's basically just antidepressants... though I've shyed away from the one that made me deeply content (yet somewhat dysfunctional) in exchange for one that leaves me more functional in exchange for a bit more (healthy) strife.

I'd be quite curious of a world where everyone is on universally functioning antidepressants.

Is this society a functioning dystopia or a dysfunctional utopia?

Also OP have you ever played the video game 'We Happy Few', a key feature of the world is that everyone takes a mild psychedelic called Joy to stop them from remembering the past.

Another story that I seem to recall using a similar plot point is Brave New World and their drug Soma (IIRC)

[–] verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Never played the game. In "Farnham's Freehold", their new world is definitely a functional dystopia based on slavery. Slaves can rise really high in the hierarchy, but that is about it.