- Huxley argues that the real threat to modern civilization is not external dangers like war, but the "auto-intoxication" of mindless pleasures and distractions.
- He contends that pleasures and entertainments have become progressively more passive and devoid of intellectual effort. People now soak up ready-made distractions like movies, radio, and newspapers without thinking.
- Huxley criticizes the sterility and sameness of modern distractions. The same movies and dances are consumed everywhere without local variation.
- He sees the proliferation of effortless distractions as promoting boredom, atrophy of the mind, and decline of civilization.
- The essay ends with a warning that the bored populace may eventually demand ever more violent entertainments, as happened in decadent Rome. Huxley fears we may "live to see blood flowing across the stage."