My friend Kale Zelden and I begin discussing the final chapter of The Abolition of Man. Topics include: slavery and freedom; the conquest of man over man; the flight from the reality of death; the world state as a surrogate for the Tao; eugenics, trans-humanism and post-humanism; man as raw material for the post-human project; the impact of World War I on the thinking of Lewis; and what a positive and humane technical progress could look like.

Show notes:

The Abolition of Man – C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man – Michael Ward

Learning in War Time – C.S. Lewis

On Living in an Atomic Age – C.S. Lewis – reprinted in a collection entitled Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

Will the Future Be Human? – Yuval Noah Harari

The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis

The Space Trilogy – C.S. Lewis

“Standing reserves” – Martin Heidegger

Miracles – C.S. Lewis

“Cover stories for a theft” – Eric Weinstein

The music in the introduction and close of this podcast is provided by Dennis Crommett.