The Vampire Squid from Hell

Vilem Flusser's 1987 book Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, written with artist Louis Bec, uses the deep-sea vampire squid to argue that humans and cephalopods are dialectical opposites and that human social life is a product of evolution. The author presents Flusser's view that evolution tends toward socialization, with humanity progressing toward greater socialization in which intelligence struggles against biological hierarchy. Flusser contrasts this with Jordan Peterson's lobster hierarchy, which the author says reflects ideas popular in the Intellectual Dark Web. The text describes the squid's society as "a hate movement," and concludes that utopia is the defining feature of humanity.