In the latest episode of the A&G Book Club podcast, we discussed Sebastian Junger's book Tribe, which I'm afraid I didn't much like. I tried to take from it what there was of value, but as you can tell from our conversation, I found a lot of Junger's argument objectionable for various reasons. Most essentially, I think Junger's argument goes like this: people feel empty because they need to have a society that satisfies their sense of belonging, and we lack that in today's world. But what if that hunger for belonging is better addressed by bolstering a person's sense of individuality and self-reliance instead? And what if the downsides to satisfying this alleged need for belonging outweigh the benefits? In particular, Junger seems to conclude that because people feel more together in crisis situations, we ought to have a society that's in a constant crisis mentality, since that way we'll feel more belonging. He praises, for example, societies that are, in his words, "extensions of the battlefield." But do we want our society to be an extension of the battlefield? That seems like a bad idea to me.
Almost as bad as "group sleeping."
In our discussion, by the way, I mention one of my favorite novels, Steel Beach by John Varley. You should read it.
Anyhow, you can listen to the podcast here.
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