Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity by Paul Kingsnorth
Western culture has gone against itself. The elites have decided that the western culture is "bad" due to imperialist roots and sought to focus on individuals beliefs. Other cultures are still respected to some extent even if they go against individuality. However, they are also gradually being subsumed. Alas, we cannot dictate what will come and fill the void. What has been coming about is an unbridled individuality and capitalistic machine. Both the right and left work within this machine. Science and rational thought are the new "religion" of the machine. People are in a supreme position to remake the world however they see fit. However, what is instead being remade is humanity itself. People are attached to screens for much of their lives. New technology becomes ubiquitous, making it difficult to function outside of it. We have transportation that can move us faster - but the places we go are now all very similar. Religion and human-scale social ties are fading as mass algorithm-based communication has dominated. AI prevents many potential unknowns. The ancient Luddites were dispariaged for fighting against technology, but maybe they were on to something. Are all the benefits of modern technology worth it? Are we too busy debating the margins of the machine to notice what has subsumed humanity? The book is well reasoned, balance look from somebody that has taken part in various movements and tries to look at all sides of issues.
Humanimal looks at humans from an "animal" perspective. How is it that humans came to dominate the world? Use of tools helped, but many other animals have tools. The ability to pass on knowledge from generation to generation ends up being a main factor. He spends a good chunk of time looking at corollary behaviors in other animals. He cautions that people should not justify a human behavior simply because a similar behavior exists in nature. Animals may appear to rape and murder, but without a communicable thought process, there is no way to directly compare. He also spends time looking at sexual behaviors. There are a number of different reproductive mechanisms out there. There are also many instances of animals (including humans) engaging in sexual activity that will not produce offspring. Why is that so? There are some conclusions to that and the question of how homosexuality propagates. He dubunks many explanations, and cautiously presents his preferred explanations. (For example, homosexuals tend to come from larger families.) There are some areas that he decides are not worth touching, and just condemns them out of hand. There are some interesting bits, but it is overall an easily forgettable book.