1. Describe how people are 'born and raised' in the BNW society, including the 'caste system' of Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons.
In the BNW society, there are no longer any live births. Instead, at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, ovaries that have been surgically removed from a woman produce ova which are then fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. The fetuses are then incubated in special bottles. Each fetus is predestined to belong to one of the five castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, or Epsilon. Those that are to become part of the Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon castes undergo the Bokanovsky Process. This causes the egg to divide into ninety-six embryos which then become ninety-six identical children. The Alpha and Beta fetuses do not undergo this process because it weakens the embryos. Once fertilized, the embryos are placed on a conveyor belt for the duration of the normal human gestation period. On the final day, they are born, which is referred to as 'decanted' in the BNW society. Depending on their caste, the fetuses are subject to certain treatments. The lower castes are deprived of oxygen and treated with alcohol so that their growth is stunted and their intelligence remains low. As they grow, the children must take part in the conditioning program in order to insure that they adopt the BNW society's values. Infants are taught to despise books and flowers in order to make them valuable consumers, older children are forced to participate in sex play so that they learn to appreciate promiscuity, and all children are subject to sleep teaching, which helps reinforce the particular characteristics of their given caste.
2. Obviously they had the ability to 'make everyone an Alpha.' Why didn't they?
The caste system is crucial in holding the BNW society together. While the technology is available to make everyone an Alpha, the lower castes are needed to not only perform the menial ...