The malleable man
The goal: a model citizen who takes no risks, is healthy and always has the right views. In The Malleable Man, journalist Bina Ayar describes with a sharp pen how the manufacturability mania goes hand in hand with moralism, control and the loss of freedom, connection and imagination. Interviews with thinkers and specialists also show that there are paradoxes when it comes to human conditioning. Excluding minorities that refuse to be transformed into “inclusive model minorities” is a striking example. Penetrating question: is the malleable human being still human?
Whether it's about health, safety or opinions: everything must be measurable and feasible. The unstable factor in this feasible society is the human being. That is why people are being tinkered with: their feelings, thoughts and behavior. The goal: a model citizen who takes no risks, is healthy and always has the right views. Bina Ayar (1972) is a historian, editor and freelance journalist. She works for HP/De Tijd and Wynia's Week, among others.
Human beings were physically feasible from the moment they were born. Primitive tools such as stones and clothing can be seen as part of the human being to improve them. Clothing makes people more resistant to cold. A stone makes a person stronger and more dangerous to enemies and prey. Human manufacturabilityThe government is not so much about how people are, but about how they should be,
