The Beast Machine lives here

On strange towns, invisible souls, and creatures that feel

I’m back, sooner than usual.

Someone wrote: “Writing weekly on Substack is like running a one-woman newspaper for an imaginary town that may or may not exist.”

I like to believe this town exists. You prove it by being here. Who do you want to be? Mayor? Keeper of the town circus? Just remember: there is no touring. You’ll have to stay and read the weekly paper.

But this time, there’s real news.

I’m circling the same question again: what makes us us?

Anil Seth’s Being You reminded me of Descartes and his “beast machine” idea — bodies built to survive, animated by something unseen.. But animals? Mere machines, he thought. (And he did try to proof it with some cruel experiments. He is not my favorite) And yet he had a dog he loved (at least he cared for it), though he denied it a soul. But where is the soul anyway? Who has it? Who doesn’t?

The man who denied his dog a soul

How is it possible we’re still debating whether animals feel joy, sadness, pain? Why wouldn’t they? Why would we?

We are all beast machines. Our bodies react, our brains interpret, all in service of survival. The body comes first.

And since I believe that every animal, even lobsters, flies, bees carry consciousness, so do my creatures. That’s the magic: they are alive.

To celebrate this new obsession finally having a name — The Beast Machine — I created a shirt design.

It’s available on Everpress (because sustainable & no self-shipping, thank you) This time I added totes and tank tops. You can click through and hopefully find a creature to live with you.

Oh, and while I was at it, I brought back a community favorite (I always wanted to say that), now with more options and with the bigger print on the back.

Want to read more about beast machines and consciousness?
Here are three thoughtful pieces I recommend:

• Descartes vs. Cudworth (Philosophy Now) – a short essay on how Descartes’ claim that animals are nothing but mindless machines has been challenged ever since.

• Evaluating Animal Consciousness (Science) – a recent scientific framework proposing behavioral and neurological markers to assess which animals might experience conscious states, supporting the idea that even insects or octopuses may be conscious.

• We Are Beast Machines (Nautilus) – a modern take by Anil Seth: we are all biological machines, and our very consciousness emerges from our living, breathing bodies.

Click through if you want to dive deeper into this. But be warned, this is a rabbit hole. But you could join me, I am already down there.

And speaking of down there. Whether you are interested or not, I also want to tell you that I am still freediving. I am even licensed now. Officialy. More on that soon.

Thanks for staying in my strange little town.