Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others (review)

We’re only human after all: a critique of human-centred AI

“…In the extreme examples given above, the other is seen as less than human, where the human has a reduced, or devoid, moral obligation towards them. Definitions of the human and the non-human have been used throughout history to justify violence, oppression, and hatred by one group over another (Smith 2011(Smith , 2020(Smith , 2021. Essentially, if we endorse HCAI's AI-human hybridity proposal becomes true, there is a distinct possibility that this hybridity will blur the boundaries of what is (or is not) considered human.…”

“…In addition to these issues, basing human values on a definition of human nature may lead to a form of 'ethnocentrism' (this is where specific populations, cultures, or ethnicities, claim that their values are more human or humane than others) (Smith 2011). If one claims that one's values are more human than another's, or one's values have achieved a greater level of moral development than another, this may imply that the values of the 'other' are 'barbarian', 'primitive', or generally, less than one's own (Smith 2011). This type of attitude often results in a lack of acceptance and respect for diversity and the oppression and marginalisation of other groups (Smith 2011).…”

“…If one claims that one's values are more human than another's, or one's values have achieved a greater level of moral development than another, this may imply that the values of the 'other' are 'barbarian', 'primitive', or generally, less than one's own (Smith 2011). This type of attitude often results in a lack of acceptance and respect for diversity and the oppression and marginalisation of other groups (Smith 2011). Therefore, ethnocentrism may also lead to a type of cultural imperialism, where one group (the one whose values are 'superior') imposes their values on another because their values are more human (many have written on cultural imperialism, cf.…”

Consuming the non-human and the less-than-human: A critical study of Sarah Kane’s Blasted (1995)

“…The term less-than-human or less than human refers to dehumanising a human individual to a subhuman level. That is, "their humanity… [is] stripped away from them" and "what is left was a creature that seemed human -had a human-looking form, walked on two legs, spoke human language, and acted in more-or-less human ways -but which was nonetheless not human," for instance, the Nazis had dehumanized the Jewish people by comparing them to "filthy, parasitic vermin" despite the fact that they "looked every bit as human as the average Aryan" (Smith 2011). According to Žižek, in his monologue Violence ( 2008), "the Nazi figure of the Jew as the less-than-human Other-enemy originate[s] from… the abyss of otherness" (Žižek 2008).…”

“…In this category of dehumanization, there exists another group of individuals, women, who are treated differently. Contrary to the Nazi dehumanisation of the Jews, "the oppression of women" refers to a "different… form of dehumanisation," where they are perceived "as things rather than human beings, as desirable lumps of flesh rather than human subjects" (Smith 2011). Their entry into the subject's space is not traumatic.…”