I love learning things about the larger than human world. Behavioral, biological, ecological, and other sciences are fascinating. Unfortunately, reading about them is often an underwhelming, depressing, or angering experience. People who have never worked in the sciences sometimes think that the field is full of one dimensional humans who are pure geniuses and devoid of bias, pettiness, and egocentrism. These assumptions are not true because scientists are human beings. When humans observe and write about other animals- especially humans invested in continued exploitation and harm towards other animals- they tend to do them a great disservice. It is true that anthropomorphism can be a problem when we interpret the worlds of other animals. Not only does it spread false information, it can lead to humans harming, neglecting, or even killing other animals without intending to. That "smiling" dog might actually be showing signs of stress and pain for instance. And don't get me started on all of the animal abuse industries who use cartoons of said animals on their restaurant logo- serving up their own slaughtered and charred body parts on the grill.
A far larger problem however is anthropocentrism. Humans have historically assumed that other animals were less than us. That they had no feelings, no inner worlds, no cultures, etc. Some people who did assume animals could have these things still often looked at them through the lens of human abilities, ranking them next to ours when they didn't do as well and quickly forgetting about the times they did far better than us. Humans are not rational animals, as much as some like to pretend that we are, so of course we made these mistakes.
In in Ed Yong's An Immense World, he breaks with the tradition of a lot of very anthropocentric science writing and attempts to examine the data on other animals in a way that truly showcases their abilities and senses- including the many that we humans do not have. He navigates the struggle humans have in comprehending the worlds of these animals. He had me hooked in his introduction where he states, "...this is not a book in which we childishly rank animals
according to the sharpness of their senses and value them only when
their abilities surpass our own. This is a book not about superiority,
but about diversity." I believe he mostly succeeded in this task.
The book is not without its faults. Yong is pretty into accepting the status quo of captive animal research, vivisection, and other ways of causing harm to other animals for science. It seemed so obviously in conflict with the very thesis of his book to refuse to examine the state of animal abuses in science. The only time he does so is for the section on pain, but he mischaracterizes pain research as existing to improve animal welfare, which is patently false. It is true that he interviews a researcher who sought to show that fishes feel pain (which should have been obvious, especially for vertebrate fishes,) but the vast majority of pain research on other animals is to substitute research that is illegal to do on humans due to its cruelty. There is also the large amount of people specialized in harming other animals who wouldn't move on to humans even if it were ethical and possible. There is also another section where he refers to bats kidnapped from the wild as "spending a cushy summer" in the lab. He misses analyses of captive test animals refusing to do tricks for humans as possibly being due to stress and depression. Lastly, he refers to animals as "it" through the entire book despite knowing they are not objects. It was frustrating to see someone- so enamored with the great many feelings and senses that other animals have- choose to hold on to his cognitive dissonance when it comes to the sciences.
Even with some pretty large flaws- ones that I very rarely see science books without- this is one of the best science books on nonhuman animals I have read. There is a ton of information in here that I had never heard of. The entire book was fascinating, but I especially enjoyed the sections on electricity-based sensory experiences. I am also glad so much of the book focused on non-mammal marine life, given that this world is so alien to most humans.
Despite this book being about nonhuman animals, there is a very overt and important human element to it (in a good way.) We learn time and again how scientists who showed various senses and abilities in other animals were (and often still are) ridiculed. There are still willfully ignorant people who think fishes don't feel pain despite all evidence to the contrary, for instance. This calls attention to the long history of oppressive assumptions that have existed in the science and medical realms (against both humans and other animals.) Yong's attention to these details breaks with some traditions of only highlighting the victories and virtues in science and medicine (of which there are many, no doubt.)
Another thing that stands out about this book is Yong's inclusion of a large variety of human experiences. It is common for any book about the senses to default to sighted, hearing, non-disabled humans in discussion. Yong breaks from this unfortunate tradition. Regularly, in discussions of various senses, Yong makes a point to include Deaf, Blind, disabled, etc people in his discussions. He also says things like, "...since most women have two X chromosomes..." without missing a beat (which is trans and intersex inclusive.)
An Immense World is a flawed but beautiful exploration of the greater than human planet. I hope that this book is a stepping stone for Yong in the direction of greater understanding and empathy for other animals as well as greater analysis of ethics surrounding the way humans treat them.
This was also posted to my goodreads.
No comments:
Post a Comment