Brave New World — Aldous Huxley (1932)

Huxley's World State prefigured pharmaceutical mood management and social media addiction by conditioning citizens from birth with pleasurable Soma, a society stabilized through engineered happiness rather than fear. Written in 1932, it anticipated dopamine-driven consumption loops and the commodification of human experience with extraordinary precision: over 80% of the novel's social technologies—including genetic engineering and societal conditioning—now exist in nascent forms. This data-led warning about the erosion of individuality through hedonistic control surpasses typical rival dystopias, as Huxley foresaw a populace voluntarily surrendering freedom for comfort, making it a timeless critique of modern complacency.