In 1984, Orwell depicts a world where all is controlled by Big Brother, including the past. It is Winston's job at the Ministry of Truth to change old newspaper articles, and other literary materials to fit Big Brother's needs. There is no set past, and what is written as the past in the textbooks is just barely grasping at the truth. This is a subject that is supposed to make us ask just how do we know what we know and where is the evidence?
These questions, along with the simple "Why?" have become more and more neglected as people distance themselves from what the textbooks say in our world today. This simple philosophy and our innate curiosity as humans is what is supposed to separate our race from the rest of the animal kingdom, but as our inquisitiveness as a species is deteriorating, somewhat rapidly, do we really have the audacity to say that we are better than all the rest?
It seems that Orwell has correctly forecasted the future in the aspect of not only do we know less, but we also care about knowing less. If we continue at our current pace, will we not end up like the Proles with memories only of useless information and having no idea of how the past was although we lived through it?