Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is more relevant today than George Orwell's 1984. Although both of the two totalitarian societies are based on plausible premises, the utopia depicted in Brave New World still has a chance of appearing today, while the Big Brother-dominated society created by Orwell, being based to some extent on the totalitarian societies that existed by the time the book was published, it is simply obsolete. Brave New World remains more believable in the modern version. times because the events that led to the creation of Huxley's Utopia are more likely to occur tomorrow. In both novels the birth of the totalitarian society is triggered by a catastrophic war that probably involves the entire world. However, in 1984, war is in the process of being fought, giving the reader the impression that somewhere in this world there still exists a non-totalitarian government that could defeat Orwell's nightmarish police state. In Brave New World, the war that preceded the creation of Utopia is long gone; it often seems that utopia has always existed. This makes it much more believable than Big Brother, especially since it seems more likely to happen when the world is at peace. Furthermore, the warfare depicted by Brave New World contains technology that seems particularly significant in modern times. In Utopia, Western European Controller Mustapha Mond mentions that the war prior to the birth of their society was fought using anthrax bombs. As biological weapons have become a more common part of military arsenals in recent years, readers of Brave New World have more reason to believe that its version of the war that begins the rise of totalitarianism could happen today. Finally, 1984... middle of paper... in Huxley's Brave New World, is more universal and more relevant to modern society than Big Brother 1984. Although both Utopia and Big Brother are equally plausible versions of a future society, the two were created by different previous events. Furthermore, Big Brother has a weak historical basis: Orwell wanted it to reflect the totalitarianism of the communist governments that existed in his era. Huxley gives no indication in Brave New World whether Utopia echoes a particular totalitarian society in real history, allowing it to remain plausible in an age where the brutal communist regimes that existed in Orwell's time have virtually disappeared. Finally, Big Brother ensures his dominance by inflicting pain on dissidents while Utopia uses pleasure. Utopia, therefore, would remain in power more easily because pleasure is a more effective method of control than pain.