π° The Real Crisis Isn't Political | Paul Kingsnorth, Against The Machine Book Study: Part 8
Dec 12, 2025 12:01 am
π° Down The Rabbit Hole π³οΈ
βThe Machine is the liberal anticulture made manifest. In the new civilization it is building, culture will be made not by that magical, strange, impossible and miraculous combination of human bodies, wild nature and the soul, but by the Algorithm and the AI.β
~ Paul Kingsnorth, Against The Machine, p. 133
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LIVESTREAM AT 7:30PM (EST) TONIGHT (THURSDAY DECEMBER 11)
Greetings, dear newsletter subscriber,
In this week's video and blog post, I offer a reflection on Ch. 12, 13, 14 & 15 of Paul Kingsnorth's new book. Among other things, I look at Kingsnorth's argument that the modern world hasnβt given us a culture at all. It has, instead, given us something entirely different: an anti-culture that disconnects us from the Four Ps that shaped human life for millennia: people, place, prayer, and the past.
Kingsnorth shows how these older values have been replaced by what he calls the Four Sβs: Science, the Self, Sex, and the Screen. And when you look at our world through this lens, a lot of modern life suddenly makes more sense: the rootlessness, the political chaos, the megacities, the hyperreality, the feeling that everything is accelerating and thinning out at the same time...
Getting back to our regular schedule, I will be livestreaming this evening (Thursday December 11) at 7:30pm EST (link above (in green)!) A reminder that the most up-to-date livestreaming dates and times will always be found right here, each week, in the newsletter!
*There has been a technical glitch and uploading to YouTube has been a problem. As of this moment, this week's video is currently uploading, so if/when you click on the following link, you might not find the video available (but it will be available soon, hopefully!)
π Watch the video here
Hope to see you this evening! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you again soon!
Warmly,
Herman
PS: Here's the (updated!) book study schedule:
December 11: 7:30pmEST
- Pages 125-167
December 18: 7:30pmEST
- Pages 168-205
December 29: 7:30pmEST
- Pages 206-243
January 8: 7:30pmEST
- Pages 244-284
January 15: 7:30pmEST
- Pages 285-318