The vast majority of human beings dislike and even actually dread all notions with which they are not familiar . . . Hence it comes about that at their first appearance innovators have generally been persecuted, and always derided as fools and madmen.

Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894–1963) was an English philosopher, intellectual, and writer of Brave New World and nearly fifty other books. His work was chiefly concerned with exploring the repercussions of modern society on the individual, with special interest in the effects of science and technology on twentieth-century life; he also became very interested in both Eastern and Western mysticism, as well as the use of psychedelics for their mind-expanding properties.