Shadowbans and Dopamine: when 1984 meets Brave New World

An update to Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death for the algorithmic age

Published on Feb. 4, 2026

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This essay by Léon de Sailly examines how the digital world has fused the dystopian visions of George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, creating a reality where pleasure and profiling, amusement and control, are inextricably linked. The author explores how technology companies and governments have collaborated to build a pervasive surveillance and manipulation apparatus, blurring the lines between the explicit authoritarianism of China and the more subtle, privatized version in the West.

Why it matters

This essay provides a timely update to Neil Postman's seminal work Amusing Ourselves to Death, highlighting how the digital age has amplified and entangled the Orwellian and Huxleyan visions in ways that Postman could not have foreseen. It serves as a critical examination of the social, political, and ethical implications of the fusion of technology, surveillance, and control in the modern world.

The details

The author outlines three key changes that have occurred since Postman's analysis: 1) The screen now watches back, with digital platforms continuously collecting data and running behavioral experiments on users; 2) The drift towards amusement and triviality has been industrialized, with tech companies optimizing their platforms to keep users engaged, often with the tacit approval of governments; and 3) The consequences of online behavior now have offline impacts, as digital profiles and scores are tied to real-world access and opportunities.

  • In the 1990s, the author commented on the 'relaxation and repression' cycle and the 'movement mentality' in Chinese politics.
  • In the Xi Jinping era, the author added Isaiah Berlin's thesis about the artificial dialectic of Stalin's Russia to the analysis of China's political dynamics.

The players

Neil Postman

An American media theorist who authored the influential book Amusing Ourselves to Death, which compared the dystopian visions of Orwell and Huxley and argued that Huxley's prediction of a society amusing itself to death was more accurate.

George Orwell

The author of the novel 1984, which depicts a totalitarian society under the control of a pervasive surveillance state.

Aldous Huxley

The author of the novel Brave New World, which envisions a dystopian society where people are controlled through the use of pleasure and entertainment rather than overt oppression.

Dong Leshan

A Chinese translator who published translations of 1984 and other dystopian novels in China during the late 1970s and 1980s.

Yi-Ling Liu

The author of the book The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet, which examines the evolving nature of the internet and technology in China and the West.

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What they’re saying

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

— Neil Postman, Media theorist (Amusing Ourselves to Death)

“What's radical, though almost sad that it's radical, is simply the ability to think for yourself. Having a sense of self not shaped by algorithms—that's already a deeply radical act.”

— Yi-Ling Liu, Author (The Wall Dancers)

What’s next

The author suggests that the real work ahead is to "refuse telemetry where you can, rebuild commons where you can, demand due process where you must. Become harder to profile, harder to panic, harder to silence — then find the others." The goal is to become the kind of person who can still tell the truth and accept the cost, rather than succumbing to the toxic logic of the current system.

The takeaway

This essay highlights the disturbing convergence of Orwell's and Huxley's dystopian visions in the modern digital landscape, where pleasure and profiling, amusement and control, are inextricably linked. It serves as a wake-up call to the dangers of unchecked technological progress and the need to reclaim our individual and collective autonomy in the face of pervasive surveillance and manipulation.