Kingsnorth's Critique: Technology Erodes Human Meaning and Purpose

Key Quotes

"Paul Kingsnorth is a uh former green radical a former radical environmentalist who um after being very active in sort of the fringes of the environmental movement for many years became disenchanted with it over the course of the 90s and ultimately wrote um this semi famous essay called confessions of a recovering environmentalist which is also the title of a very good uh book of essays he put out."

Tyler Austin Harper explains that Paul Kingsnorth's background as a former radical environmentalist is crucial to understanding his current critiques. Harper highlights Kingsnorth's disillusionment with mainstream environmentalism's shift towards sustainability, which he viewed as a compromise that embraced technology rather than challenging consumerism. This foundational perspective informs Kingsnorth's later work.

"he came to feel like you know at its origins the environmental movement was this movement that was very anti technology that was very pro limit that had this sense that um we need to take a kind of ascetic posture and restrain ourselves in the face of this consumer society that's always saying more and more and more and he felt like over the course of the 80s and 90s environmentalism shifted toward this movement that was much more centered on um sustainability and he saw sustainability as just this idea that we can keep living the way we live now except we'll make it sustainable through technology"

Harper elaborates on Kingsnorth's critique of modern environmentalism, contrasting its origins with its later focus on sustainability. Harper explains that Kingsnorth felt the movement abandoned its anti-technology, pro-limit stance for a model that sought to make current consumption patterns sustainable through technological fixes, which Kingsnorth saw as a betrayal of core principles.

"his basic insight is that you know our society is increasingly organized around um using technology to remake um not just nature but human nature right and i think that's where we see the connection to some of his earlier work like his earlier work was really focused on the way um that the environmental movement went from being a kind of degrowth luddite movement to being a pro tech movement right we're going to use sustainable green technology to solve the climate crisis and all these problems um and his central insight is like actually that move is just all across culture like our entire civilization has become organized against the idea of limits and that just comes to see technology as a way to remake nature but also human nature in service of uh in the service of our our whims and desires"

Harper connects Kingsnorth's critique of environmentalism to his broader concept of "the machine." Harper explains that Kingsnorth argues contemporary society, like the environmental movement, has become organized around using technology to reshape not only nature but also human nature itself. This, according to Harper, represents a civilization-wide rejection of limits in favor of fulfilling desires through technological means.

"he's really trying to say that most of human civilization now is organized around a rejection of limits um and which is another way of saying that most of the arguments we have right now are arguments about um the place of nature and human life right so -- whether that is something like -- gender issues right that is that what seems like a superficial culture war is actually an argument about like okay what role should nature play in human life how much deference should we pay to nature is nature something to be overcome or is it something to be sort of like work within"

Harper interprets Kingsnorth's central argument as a critique of modern civilization's pervasive rejection of limits, framing many contemporary debates, including those on gender, as fundamentally about humanity's relationship with nature. Harper suggests that Kingsnorth sees these issues as explorations of whether nature should be overcome or worked within, reflecting a deeper societal conflict over limits.

"he really does think probably not a whole lot we can do to sort of like at a macro level resist the pace of technology if you just like look at the course of human history it is just like a relentless you know march forward of this this machine and so the task at hand is to figure out like where to draw your limits and that's kind of where he sort of ends is like you know you're you might not agree with everything i say here about transgenderism or about transhumanism or about like x y or z but like the question you need to ask yourself is like where are my personal limits where am i going to say no like this intrusion of technology into my life is too much"

Harper explains Kingsnorth's perspective on the difficulty of resisting technological advancement at a macro level, suggesting Kingsnorth believes the "machine" of progress is relentless. Harper highlights that Kingsnorth's proposed solution is not a grand societal program but a personal one: individuals must identify and draw their own limits against technological intrusion to preserve their humanity.

"i think one of the reasons it's landed so much is to me i've been really frustrated with a lot of the critiques particularly of ai and i think it's worth noting so much of this book is about like the coming of ai and the way that's just another turn of the screw in this sort of like anti humanist cult of technology i think one of the reasons it's landed so well in the mainstream is that um you know he really has an account of ai and tech as a kind of and tech as a crisis of human meaning right"

Harper suggests that Kingsnorth's book resonates widely because it addresses technology, particularly AI, as a crisis of human meaning, rather than solely focusing on political or economic critiques. Harper notes that while many critiques focus on environmental impact or labor exploitation, Kingsnorth's emphasis on the threat to human purpose and relationships provides a more profound explanation for the book's impact.