Against the Machine: Caught in the Web of Its Song | Dr. Rasheed Arshad

PDF link given below. https://drive.google.com/file/d/100Nb... In this lecture from the Modernity/Coloniality series, Dr. Muhammad Rasheed Arshad explores the theme “Caught in the Web of Its Song” through a critical engagement with the modern technological order and its impact on human consciousness, culture, and spirituality. Drawing from contemporary critiques of modernity — particularly Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity by Paul Kingsnorth and The Unravelling of Intelligibility by Hasan Spiker — the lecture examines how modern civilization transforms human beings into components of a mechanized, rationalized, and increasingly uniform system. The session discusses themes such as: The rise of machine culture and technological rationality The severance of faith, reason, morality, and nature in modern thought Industrialization and the loss of organic human life The internet age, manipulated individualism, and mass culture The tension between nature, spirituality, and technological progress The crisis of meaning and the “unmaking” of humanity in the modern world Using literary, philosophical, and cultural reflections, the lecture argues that modernity is not merely a technological phenomenon but a profound spiritual and civilizational transformation affecting the very meaning of being human. This session is especially valuable for students of philosophy, religion, technology, intellectual history, and critiques of modern civilization. #Modernity #Coloniality #AgainstTheMachine #PaulKingsnorth #HasanSpiker #Technology #MachineCulture #PhilosophyOfTechnology #Humanity #IntellectualHistory #DrRasheedArshad