From snails to great white sharks: Researchers around the world are fitting thousands of animals with transmitters to track and monitor them via satellite and computer; the results are immediately available to everyone on the individual animals’ Facebook profiles in their “Life Chronicles.” What seems like science fiction has long been a reality: International research projects—including those involving the Max Planck Institute—are working intensively to create as seamless an “Internet of Animals” as possible, thereby harnessing their abilities for human benefit. But in the future, it won’t just be water snakes warning of tsunamis and mountain goats of volcanic eruptions; the Internet of Animals will also radically transform our relationship with nature. Is the entire animal kingdom becoming a global monitoring laboratory? Will all that remains of wandering through nature soon be a glance at a smartphone? Do animals need a right to privacy to be protected from poachers? Online expert Alexander Pschera presents the Internet of Animals in a vivid and knowledgeable way and discusses the danger of the digital disenchantment of nature. In doing so, he comes to a surprising conclusion: The new technology will not alienate us from nature; rather, it creates a new relationship of closeness characterized by knowledge and mindfulness.
Non-fiction
Sample translation
Complete English translation available
Alexander Pschera, born in 1964, has published several books on the Internet and media. He studied German, music and philosophy at Heidelberg University. He lives near Munich where he writes for the German magazine Cicero as well as for German radio.
By the same author(s)
"In Animal Internet, the German writer Alexander Pschera reflects on the significance of the 'digital revolution' in wildlife ecology—the recent explosion of small, relatively inexpensive cameras and satellite tracking devices that have allowed humans to follow animal movements in great detail. ... He argues persuasively that the 'animal internet' is full of possibilities for interspecies communication. Technology, in this case, could allow humans to temporarily adopt an animal’s perspective, seeing a near or distant place as a member of another species might see it. By acquainting us—via our screens—with the typical habits and behavior of other species, tracking technology can also teach humans to pay more attention to the animals we encounter in real life. As Pschera speculates, technological access to animals’ lives may, ironically, restore our sensory access to them."
– The New York Review of Books
“Bold and fascinating … proposing that the Internet—and other digital technology—offers an opportunity to rediscover our animals as more than abstracted images but as autonomous individuals with inherent value. A truly thought-provoking book for animal lovers and technology enthusiasts alike.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“At last, a convincing explanation for why waldrapps are on Twitter and quolls on Facebook. In beautiful, philosophical prose, Alexander Pschera even explains why cats rule the Internet. The first book that brings nature and technology together with animals as individuals and streams of big data alike.”
– David Rothenberg, author of Bug Music and Survival of the Beautiful
“Humanized pets, industrialized meat, endless sad extinctions: Must our animal future be so bleak? Not according to Alexander Pschera, who envisions humans and wild animals interacting on matters like climate change and conservation through electronic tracking. A fascinating account full of novel and unexpected examples.”
– Richard W. Bulliet, author of Hunters, Herders and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of Human-Animal Relationships and Professor of History Emeritus, Columbia University
“This surprising book offers a great shout-out to the next phase in our relationship with non-human beings: our brand-newly emerging recognition that they, too, are individuals, leading individual lives.”
– Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, and Song for the Blue Ocean
“Animal Internet is a most important book. This excellent work could be a strong catalyst for people to … become re-enchanted with all sorts of mysterious and fascinating animals, both local and distant. By shrinking the world it will bring humans and other animals together in a multitude of ways that only a few years ago were unimaginable.”
– Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado, author of Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence
“An original book that goes against the trend to stubbornly keep nature and technology divided from one another.”
– Der Spiegel
“Animal Internet is one of the most interesting books that I’ve read in recent years.”
– Bavarian Radio
“What Pschera describes sounds futuristic but it’s already widespread reality … Pschera’s book is not just popular science: he describes not only the status quo, but also thinks about an ongoing transformation.”
– Wired.de
