The Abolition of Man

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1. nephihahaJun 2026
   The answer can be found in "the Abolition of Man" and "That Hideous Strength".

   C.S. Lewis would have hated the AI mockeries of him on YouTube. There are several channels which dispense AI slop with his name attached to it.

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2. elcritchJun 2026
   It’s sad to me after reading stories like this how much Western societies have generally lost the pursuit of Bildung (wisdom, virtue) that shaped men like Wilhelm von Humboldt's.

   I’ve come to firmly believe that a society which looses the pursuit of the noble in the individual in exchange for mere technological excellence will in the long run loose technical ability as well.

   It’s not even about a religious ideals, but secular ones as well. Really any belief system that puts the onus on individuals to pursue nobleness, as opposed to the more empty “reforming society” or “fixing society” that universities in particular appear fixated on currently.

   Reminds me of CS Lewis’ critiques our modern age in “Abolition of Man” who critiqued it very well.

   Of course we see this tension of education of the individual vs mass indoctrination in most western public school systems. TFA was a good read, as I’d always assumed and read that universal education was created as just a tool for mass indoctrination for obedient workers.

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3. TimTheTinkerApr 2025
   Many authors poured their mind into their works such that simply reading their books makes it possible to know them pretty well. If you haven't tried it, I strongly suggest it :)

   Since you called out Lewis -- one of my favorites is his The Abolition of Man and its narrative counterpart That Hideous Strength. They describe in exquisite, arguably prophetic detail many of the evils of the modern left, particularly how it has ushered in a progressive downfall of society through institutionalized lies.

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4. numeromancerMay 2024
   The Abolition of Man - C. S. Lewis

   All Things Considered - G. K. Chesterton

   Some others I daren't mention.

   Category Theory for Programmers - Bartosz Milewski

   The Design of Relational Databases - Heikki Mannila, Kari-Jouko Raiha

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5. lukeasrodgersMay 2024
   You may enjoy CS Lewis’ Abolition of Man, and Alisdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue. Nietzsche too but I reckon you are familiar with his work. Not necessarily endorsing these books fully, just sharing some things that bounce around in my head alongside some of the ideas you mention.
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6. mutant_glofishAug 2023
   > I wonder how far it is until transwomen could have a functional female reproductive system?

   Actually, we are probably very far from that. And obviously, just because something is in the realm of possibility doesn't imply that we should do it.

   May I recommend a short book by C. S. Lewis (the author of The Chronicles of Narnia)? It's called "The Abolition of Man", with the intended meaning of "Man" being just the mankind/humanity in general.

   A central argument of the book is that a level of technological progress which enables arbitrary conditioning of human beings doesn't necessarily lead to some kind of liberation. More likely, it will empower the conditioners and destroy the constraints that fundamentally define our humanity. If you like liberty and humanity, that would be a grim prospect.

   Technologies which would genuinely enable turning a man to a woman (in the biological sense) would also enable a lot of undesirable things (even if you think turning a man to a woman is itself something desirable).

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