https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454066/animals-robots-gods-by-keane-webb/9780241613207
From the back page:
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 ground-breaking 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, 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; 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.
“Webb Keane has a marvellous ability to extend the scope of our moral compass not only to all varieties of human thought but also to the non-human beings with whom we share the biosphere. He is one of the world’s foremost and most thoughtful anthropologists. This book is a must-read, written with wit and clarity”—Professor Dame Caroline Humphrey
“The boundaries of our moral worlds are in flux as we rethink the claims made on us by animals, robots, humans on life-support, and AI. Webb Keane, the most important contemporary anthropologist of language and interaction, brilliantly guides us through the resulting murk. Drawing on research from around the world, and showing how people’s engagements with supernatural figures long ago raised questions of moral standing that we now apply to these other beings, this gracefully written book will make you think productively about your own life in ways you likely never imagined”—Joel Robbins