I'd suggest reading Brave New World or The Last Book Ever Written to explore those two ideas, respectively. The latter is a bit more kid-friendly, and you might

I'd suggest reading Brave New World or The Last Book Ever Written to explore those two ideas, respectively. The latter is a bit more kid-friendly, and you might consider it a little prescient for its time. Also, not trying to be on a high horse here (hey, I'm posting this on HN...) you might find that the people are merely offered the drugs and brain-computer devices and they make their own decisions about the two. There's a fantastic comic (no link, sorry) comparing Orwell's future to Huxley's future that's remarkably relevant. EDIT: link - https://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/huxley-orwell-amusing-ourselves-to-death.jpg https://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/huxley-orwel... I forgot, but it gets even better when, at the bottom, you notice the book is also from an even more prescient book, Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman. I believe it came out around the "golden era" of TV, but again I don't think all that much has changed. We're still the same humans with the same flaws. I should stop there; I'll start giving out spoilers. Read the books. :)