[Natsu]

Sometimes I wonder if we would be better off if 1984 and the like had never been written. It feels like people have been using them as a how-to manual.

[pyre]

Unfortunately, the idea that there is a controlling mastermind using 1984 as a guide book is only nice insofar as it makes the dynamics of large groups of people and emergent behaviors seem controllable (or at least fixable) without long painful attempts to reshape the fabric of culture/society. The reality is that books like 1984 are commenting on human tendencies. Tendencies that would exist regardless of the existence of the commentary.

[sounds]

The idea of a dystopian state was already old in 1949 (when the book was first published).

Wikipedia lists literature back to 1835, though I think ancient Romans would have been able to write awesome dystopian literature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dystopian_literature

[jff]

Well, at the very least we wouldn't have to hear it referenced every time a government or company does something, so that's a plus.