"I shall begin at the beginning," said the D.H.C. and the more zealous students recorded his intention in their notebooks: Begin at the beginning. "These," he waved his hand, "are the incubators." And opening an insulated door he showed them racks upon racks of numbered test-tubes. "The week's supply of ova. Kept," he explained, "at blood heat; whereas the male gametes," and here he opened another door, "they have to be kept at thirty-five instead of thirty-seven. Full blood heat sterilizes." Rams wrapped in theremogene beget no lambs. (1.9)
Here begins a key feature of the way science is presented in Brave New World: horrifying precision. A mere two degrees of temperature separates male gametes from female ones, yet this difference is exact and crucial.
"They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an 'instinctive' hatred of books and flowers. Reflexes unalterably conditioned. They'll be safe from books and botany all their lives." The Director turned to his nurses. "Take them away again." (2.26)
"Nature" has no meaning in this new world; Mustapha Mond will later explicitly make the point that there is no such thing as "instinct," or if there is, it is no different from what citizens are programmed to believe.
"These early experimenters," the D.H.C. was saying, "were on the wrong track. They thought that hypnopædia could be made an instrument of intellectual education…"
[…]
"The - Nile - is - the - longest - river - in - Africa - and - the - second - in - length - of - all - the - rivers - of - the - globe…" The words come rushing out. "Although - falling - short - of…"
"Well now, which is the longest river in Africa?"
The eyes are blank. "I don't know."
[…]
"Whereas, if they'd only started on moral education," said the Director, leading the way towards the door. The students followed him, desperately scribbling as they walked and all the way up in the lift. "Moral education, which ought never, in any circumstances, to be rational." (2.54-60)
Science has its limits. It is interesting that science—an entirely rational subject—can be employed to indoctrinate irrational inclinations.
"Charming, charming," murmured the Director and, giving [Lenina] two or three little pats, received in exchange a rather deferential smile for himself. (1.93)
Huxley hints at the rampant promiscuity in this society even before we get to see the whole picture. As readers, we feel more and more uneasy as we go.
"Just to give you a general idea," he would explain to them. For of course some sort of general idea they must have, if they were to do their work intelligently—though as little of one, if they were to be good and happy members of society, as possible. For particulars, as every one knows, make for virtue and happiness; generalities are intellectually necessary evils. Not philosophers but fret-sawyers and stamp collectors compose the backbone of society. (1.5)
Much of the power the World State has over its citizens has to do with intellectual control. The Director's inclination that people should know only a little about the "general idea" is similar to Mustapha's later claim that thinking about purpose is a danger to society. Big thoughts lead to ideas of God, to philosophy, to questioning, to curiosity—all incompatible with blissful ignorance.
"My good boy!" The Director wheeled sharply round on him. "Can't you see? Can't you see?" He raised a hand; his expression was solemn. "Bokanovsky's Process is one of the major instruments of social stability!"
[…]
"Community, Identity, Stability." Grand words. "If we could bokanovskify indefinitely the whole problem would be solved." (1.18-21)
Science is used only insofar as it is a tool for control.
"We condition the masses to hate the country," concluded the Director. "But simultaneously we condition them to love all country sports. At the same time, we see to it that all country sports shall entail the use of elaborate apparatus. So that they consume manufactured articles as well as transport. Hence those electric shocks." (2.33)
All the control the State has over its citizens exists to serve consumerism.
Not so much like drops of water, though water, it is true, can wear holes in the hardest granite; rather, drops of liquid sealing-wax, drops that adhere, incrust, incorporate themselves with what they fall on, till finally the rock is all one scarlet blob.
"Till at last the child's mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child's mind. And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too—all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides—made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!" The Director almost shouted in his triumph. "Suggestions from the State." He banged the nearest table. "It therefore follows…" (2.85-6)
Here is some insight as to why "Identity" is part of the World State's Motto. Individual identity may be erased, but through conditioning, a new, communal identity can be written over it.