Of course I have to acknowledge that the book's existence and popularity is probably the chief reason I would give for its current implausibility--"Big Brother" is a ubiquitous phrase thrown at any attempt to curtail liberty--but I can't see such a totalitarian government being established, much less surviving. The closest thing we might have in the world to that right now is North Korea, and it's plagued by constant issues caused by its government.

I think Brave New World is a much more likely candidate for humanity's immediate future. Not in the caste system, of course--I think the West's vehement support of egalitarianism denies any overt attempt at caste--but at the complete reduction of all intellectualism into entertainment, of information into the sound bite.