Thoughts and feelings are often depicted in binary opposition, which is part of the legacy of the Enlightenment. At this point in history, religion is replaced with science, and rational logic is privileged over other ways of understanding the world, including humanity. Because feelings and emotions often fail rational explanation, they are typically maligned. However, even in a post-Enlightenment world that rests on logical thought, there have always been detractors who question the use of logic, especially when feelings still seem to have power.

Ben is one such detractor who values feeling or “heart” over thoughts and smarts. His complaint that “we’re all getting too smart” (Paragraph 8) takes issue with the concept of human progress, which imagines a world in which humans develop complete control over the world, presumably through the mastery of all knowledge. He sees that the result of this perpetual intelligence and knowledge has dried up the world and even killed it because thought has not been balanced out with heart. As globalization, digital technology, and consumption of information enable people to become points of data, Ben’s worry speaks to generations who express anxiety over the end point of human progress, or the absolute privileging of thought.