Exciting author news
A new book in the works
Hello dear friends and readers,
It’s happening! I am now officially working on my next book. The title is Humanish and it’s all about anthropomorphism. Check out the announcement from Publishers Marketplace:
Anthropomorphism is “the showing or treating of animals, gods, and objects as if they are human in appearance, character, or behaviour.” It’s what obliges us to create and enjoy videos like this:
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Anthropomorphism is also the reason this Japanese man married a virtual anime character/plush doll:
Humanish will be a book that explains 1) how anthropomorphism works in our minds, 2) the weird things it makes us do, and 3) the way it can be used by nefarious entities to manipulate our behavior. I hope to show how fundamental it is to explaining the human mind and how deeply it affects our relationship with not just animals, but the world as a whole.
On that note, I have a quick question for you:
And if you have any funny stories about you or someone you know treating their pet (or some random object or stuffed animal or whatnot) in an excessively or comically human-like way, please comment on this post with your story. It might even end up in the book!
In other news, there will be a paperback version of If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal coming out this fall for those of you who like to read smaller/lighter/more-economically-priced books. Stay tuned for details.
And Adam Grant just announced the upcoming release of his new book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things. Adam is an organizational psychologist and bestselling author and all around nice guy who is ultra-supportive of new authors. He uses his considerable platform to shine a light on emerging authors (including yours truly). So not only should you check out and pre-order his new book because it’s bound to be awesome and insightful, but because he deserves some reader-love.
And for those wondering what kind of books I read in my free time, I just finished Octavia Butler’s Dawn and am currently reading A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. I quite enjoyed the first book in the series (the Hugo Award winning A Memory Called Empire). And Arkady Martine just seems awesome. “Arkady Martine” is the pen name of Dr. AnnaLinden Weller “a historian of the Byzantine Empire and a city planner - currently a policy advisor for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, where she works on climate change mitigation, energy grid modernization, and resiliency planning.” So she’s an academic badass and an award-winning speculative fiction author. So cool!
In a tech-room at university on an open-day some students had put a welcome sign around the neck of a robot with a face and hands. Its arm was was stretched out like it was reaching for a hand shake. One of the fingers was broken and almost falling of, but the digit was resting in place. We were waiting for a replacement part to do the reparation. Many people who entered took photos with the robot, saying it was so cute. The robot had no power source connected so it was entirely inert. Then without fail, anyone who tried to shake its hand would break out with concerned emotion and empathy when they noticed the broke finger. Multiple adults called out to notify others that the robot was "injured", asking for immediate aide. When I said I was on it and was waiting for a replacement part, people acted as though I was indifferent to a child or animal suffering a bleeding hand - "you can't just leave it like this, the robot is hurt!" It was interesting to have to repeatedly justify my choice not to rush to perform first-aid on a non-living object.
recently read “planta sapiens” and the book makes great points on the typical missteps in anthropomorphizing plants, in doing so one can see plants as having radically different (compared to humans) goals, timelines, etc. -- recommend a look at the process described in that book 📚