Being: Why it's harder to be human than a hamster or a herring

The book (Existence: Why Is Being Human More Difficult Than Being a Hamster or a Herring?), by Australian psychologists Ross J. Menzies and his daughter Rachel E. Menzies, comes to provide one of the clearest formulations of this intellectual shift, putting the reader before a question that has been worrying philosophers for thousands of years: Are we really the ones who choose, or are we only under the illusion that we are choosing?The book does not deal with this question as an abstract philosophical exercise, but rather as an introduction to understanding the psychological disorders that have become characteristic of Western societies, where rates of anxiety, depression, isolation, and a sense of meaninglessness are increasing, despite unprecedented material and technological progress.The authors believe that man has become a prisoner of an exaggerated perception of himself, and that modern Western culture has led the individual to believe that he is the center of the world and the maker of his own destiny, and that his success or failure depends on his personal ability alone. Over time, this perception turned into an enormous psychological burden, because the person found himself required to achieve permanent success, and to manage his life, relationships, work, health, and happiness, as if everything was under his absolute control.From here, the book begins to criticize what it calls the “cult of the self” perpetuated by contemporary neoliberalism, where the individual is no longer just a citizen or member of a society, but rather a permanent project to improve himself. Motivational speeches, success books, social media platforms, and digital algorithms all push people to constantly monitor themselves and to believe that any failure is evidence of their personal shortcomings, and not the result of complex networks of economic, social, and cultural conditions.