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Considering the specific aspects of Brave New World's utopian society, how might we see Aldous Huxley's novel as a cautionary tale?

The novel serves as a warning to our own society not to take the easy way out of life by giving up our freedoms in return for a superficial "happiness" than might numb our pain, but also prevents us from living fully. 


In the World State, people don't suffer but they also don't feel much. The government runs everything to make the world as efficient, painless and sterile as possible and people have no say in who they are or how the world is organized. Specific issues relevant to our own society would be the following:


The people in the World State popped soma, which made them feel good and let them escape reality; do we use meds, alcohol or other mind-altering substances to do the same? (This is not about people who genuinely need and benefit from meds.)


The people in the World State were conditioned to consume or to buy, buy, buy. Do we "shop until we drop" and stuff our homes and closets with more consumer goods than we need or could ever use?


The people in the World State were conditioned through tapes they heard at night to do what the society wanted them to do. Are we similarly "conditioned" by incessant advertising to do what others want us to do, whether it's good for us or not?


The people in the World State were given mindless entertainment. Do we substitute mindless entertainment (watching cat videos, for example) for reading works of literature, as the Savage does, that might cause us to rethink how we see the world or confront us with new ideas?


The people in the World State were encouraged never to become too close with any one person but instead to jump from superficial relationship to superficial relationship. Do we have a "hook up" culture in our world? 

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