Andrew Middleton by Herman Middleton

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🐰 Why Technology Is Never Neutral | Paul Kingsnorth, Against The Machine Book Study: Part 11

A spiritual diagnosis of the modern world...

🐰 Down The Rabbit Hole 🕳️


“[S]ocieties built around a notion of the sacred have an immunity to the gravity of the purely material.”

~ Paul Kingsnorth, Against The Machine, p. 234


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LIVESTREAM AT 7:30PM (EST) TONIGHT (THURSDAY JANUARY 8)


Greetings, dear newsletter subscriber,


Remarkably...this is our second-to-last installment of the book study! I have interesting projects planned for 2026...I'm so pleased to have you along for this journey!


Many assume that technology is neutral—that it's simply a tool we’re free to use or ignore. But what if that belief is itself the problem?


In this week’s video, I look at Paul Kingsnorth’s argument that the modern world’s crisis isn’t political, ecological, or technological—but spiritual. Drawing on thinkers like Jeremy Naydler and Ian McGilchrist, we consider how technology doesn’t just change what we do—it reshapes how we see, think, and even desire.


Ancient societies understood this danger, which is why they often chose not to use technologies they already possessed. We, by contrast, rarely ask what our tools are doing to us.


👉 Watch the video here

👉 Read the article here


Hope to see you this evening...have a great weekend, and we'll see you again soon!


Warmly,


Herman


PS: Here's the final book study schedule:


January 8: 7:30pmEST

Pages 230-272


January 15: 7:30pmEST

Pages 273-318

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