Animals, Robots, Gods

How do we live ethical lives alongside others? A fascinating exploration of our moral universe.

We have always lived with ethically significant others, whether they are the pets we keep, the gods we believe in, or the machines we are endowing with life. How should we treat them as our world changes?

In Animals, Robots, Gods, acclaimed anthropologist Webb Keane provides a new vision of ethics, defined less by our minds, religion, or society, and more by our interactions with those around us. Drawing on groundbreaking research by fieldworkers around the world, he explores the underpinnings of our moral universe. Along the way, we investigate the ethical dilemmas of South Asian animal rights activists, Balinese cockfighters, and Japanese robot fanciers—even macho cowboys. We meet a hunter in the Yukon who explains his prey generously gives itself up to him; a cancer sufferer in Thailand who sees his tumour as a reincarnated ox; and a computer that gets you to confess your anxieties as if you were on the psychiatrist's couch.

With charm, wit, and insight, Keane offers us a better understanding of our doubts and certainties, showing how centuries of conversations between us and non-humans inform our conceptions of morality and will continue to guide us in the age of AI and beyond.