You’re probably reading this on a screen that’s been calibrated to keep your dopamine levels just high enough so you don't look away. It’s a weird realization. We think we’re using tools, but if you look at the core arguments in Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity, the reality is actually the other way around. The machine is using us.
Lee Siegel’s 2008 book felt like a cranky manifesto when it first dropped. People called him a Luddite. They said he just didn't "get" the internet. But fast forward to now, and his warnings about how the web turns us into a "narcissistic, commercialized, and lonely" version of ourselves feel less like a complaint and more like a forensic report of a crime scene. We are living in the world he predicted. It’s a world where the "wisdom of the crowds" has mostly just become a loud, angry mob, and where our private selves are being chopped up and sold to the highest bidder.
The Myth of the Empowered Individual
The big lie we were told in the early 2000s was that the internet would democratize everything. Remember that? We were going to be citizen journalists. We were going to be indie creators who didn't need the "gatekeepers." Siegel looked at this and basically said, "Hold on a second."
He argued that by removing the professional gatekeepers—the editors, the curators, the experts—we didn't actually get more freedom. We just got a vacuum that was immediately filled by corporate algorithms and the loudest voices in the room. In Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity, Siegel points out that when everyone is a "creator," the value of actual creativity plummets. We start performing for an audience of ghosts. We stop being individuals and start being "users."
It's a subtle shift. You don't notice it happening. You just wake up one day and realize you're more worried about how your lunch looks on a feed than how it actually tastes. That is the "unmaking" he’s talking about. It’s the erosion of the private, unobserved self. If you aren't posting it, does it even count? Siegel’s answer is that it's the only thing that counts.
Why Anonymity Broke Our Brains
One of the most biting parts of Siegel's critique focuses on the culture of online anonymity. Back in the day, anonymity was supposed to be a tool for truth-telling. It was for whistleblowers and activists. But in the context of the "machine," it turned into a license for cruelty.
He explores how the lack of a physical presence—the fact that you can’t see the person you’re shouting at—breaks the human feedback loop. We aren't wired for this. We are wired for eye contact, for tone of voice, for the subtle cues that tell us we’ve gone too far. The machine strips that away. It leaves us with "the comment section."
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Think about the last time you saw a civil debate on a major social platform. It's rare. It's rare because the machine doesn't want civility; it wants engagement. Anger is the most engaging emotion there is. By unmaking our social graces, the machine makes more money. Siegel was screaming about this before "algorithmic bias" was even a term people used at dinner parties.
The Problem with "Crowdsourcing" Everything
The book takes a massive swing at the idea that the "crowd" is smarter than the individual. We see this everywhere now. Wikipedia, Yelp reviews, Rotten Tomatoes scores. We trust the aggregate.
But Siegel suggests that this aggregate is a race to the bottom. It rewards the average. It punishes the eccentric, the difficult, and the truly original. If a piece of art or a piece of writing is challenging, the crowd will often reject it because it requires effort. The machine prefers things that are easy to consume. It prefers the "unmade" human—the one who just clicks, scrolls, and reacts.
The Commercialization of the Soul
Everything is an ad now. Honestly, it’s exhausting. Siegel’s work highlights how the internet turned every hobby, every passion, and every personal moment into a "brand."
- You don't just hike; you're a "nature influencer."
- You don't just cook; you're a "food content creator."
- You don't just have an opinion; you have a "platform."
This is what he means by the unmaking of humanity. We are being turned into commodities. When your value is tied to your metrics, you start to treat yourself like a product. You optimize your personality. You A/B test your life.
It sounds bleak because it is. But Siegel isn't saying we should throw our phones into the ocean—though sometimes that sounds pretty good. He’s saying we need to recognize the cost of the trade we’ve made. We traded our privacy and our inner peace for convenience and a fake sense of connection.
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Reclaiming the "Human" in a Digital World
So, how do we fight back? If Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity is the diagnosis, what’s the cure?
It starts with a radical return to the physical. Siegel emphasizes the importance of things that cannot be digitized. The machine cannot replicate the feeling of a physical book in your hands, the awkwardness of a first date, or the silence of a walk without a podcast playing. These are the things that make us human.
We have to become "inefficient." The machine loves efficiency. It wants you to buy the first thing you see, click the first link, and stay on the path. To be human is to be wonderfully, messily inefficient. It’s taking the long way home. It’s talking to a stranger. It’s doing something "useless" just because it feels right.
The Limits of Technology
We often talk about technology like it’s an unstoppable force of nature. It’s not. It’s a choice. We choose to give it our time. We choose to let it mediate our relationships.
Siegel’s work reminds us that the machine has no agency. It doesn't have a soul. It doesn't care about you. It’s just a set of instructions designed to maximize profit. When we realize that, the "magic" of the digital world starts to fade, and we can see it for what it actually is: a tool that has overstepped its bounds.
Actionable Steps to Stay Human
If you feel like the machine is unmaking you, there are real, tactile ways to pull back. This isn't about a "digital detox" for a weekend; it's about a fundamental shift in how you inhabit the world.
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Seek Out Expertise Over Algorithms
Stop letting a feed tell you what to read or watch. Find a critic you trust. Go to a local bookstore and ask the person behind the counter for a recommendation. The goal is to reconnect with human judgment, which is nuanced and flawed, rather than an algorithm, which is precise and soulless.
Practice Radical Privacy
You don't have to share everything. In fact, you shouldn't. Try keeping your best experiences to yourself for a while. Don't take a photo. Don't write a caption. Just live it. This rebuilds the "inner life" that Siegel argues we are losing. When you have a secret, you have a self.
Embrace Discomfort
The machine is built for comfort. It filters out things you don't like. To stay human, you have to lean into the stuff that makes you uncomfortable. Read authors you disagree with. Listen to music that sounds "weird" to you. Engage in a difficult conversation in person.
Prioritize the Analog
Whenever possible, choose the physical version of a task. Write a letter. Use a paper map. Pay with cash. These small acts of friction remind your brain that there is a world outside the screen. They slow you down. And in the age of the machine, slowness is a superpower.
The unmaking of humanity isn't a future event. It’s a process that is happening right now, click by click. But the making of humanity is also a process. It’s something we do every time we choose a person over a device, a slow thought over a quick reaction, and the real world over the digital one.
The machine is powerful, sure. But it’s not you.