Robopaths: People as Machines

The complete title is "Robopaths: People as Machines," and the back cover copy says, "The robopaths are the people who pull the triggers at My Lai, Kent State, and Attica, make policy in Washington, and live next door. Dehumanized by regimentation, bureaucratization, and indiscriminite violence, they are growing more numerous in today's society." Do I really have to add any more? Just replace some of those time-specific names above with Abu Ghraib & Guantanamo, for example, and this insightful analysis of the worst strains of "civilized" society is as timely as this morning's news. Lewis Yablonsky even targets the beginnings of attitudes & actions that have come to full ugly flower today: the scapegoating of others, the insatiable maw of consumerism, the destruction of the environment, the refusal to face reality, the preference for empty slogans & compensatory bloodshed, and so much more. At the time this book was written, Yablonsky identified portions of the counterculture as the antidote to this soulless trend in society. No doubt many will look at the failure of the counterculture as proof that he's wrong in his entire thesis. At the very least, even some sympathetic readers will wince at his hopeful & now seemingly naive references to hippies & love & freedom. I won't do that, though. When he lists the qualities he sees as necessary for the redemption of dehumanized society, he quotes from the equally dismissed Charles Reich in "The Greening of America" -- and I suppose that only damns his thesis even more in the minds of many readers. But look at this: "...[R]espect for the individual, for his uniqueness and for his privacy; abstention from coercion or violence against any individual; abstention from killing or war; respect for the natural environment; respect for beauty in all its forms; honesty in all personal relations; equality of status between all individuals; genuine democracy in the making of decisions; freedom of expression and conscience." While I can see a viable argument being made for the difficulty, even the improbability of implementing such a society now -- can anyone argue that those AREN'T worthwhile goals? Yet many would not only dismiss them as impractical, but scorn them as weak, stupid, boo-hoo bleeding heart nonsense, and all the other current buzzwords of contempt for basic human decency. Those who would do so are the robopaths of today. Whatever its minor flaws, this is a book in urgent need of reprinting -- most highly recommended!