Men made the modern world, and the modern world made men redundant

Attention farmers and firefighters of Australia: Louise Perry, who just delivered CPX’s Richard Johnson Lecture (RJL) overnight, thanks you.

Everyone who came to RJL probably expected serious treatment of the advertised topic: the growing divide between the sexes. (We got that). But no one anticipated Perry’s shoutout to rural men: her appreciation for the oft-overlooked (more so in cities, perhaps) men (mostly) who grow our food and fight our bushfires. Or how the efforts of this cohort represented, in miniature, the modern project to transcend human limits and free us from want.

So, nothing could have prepared the gathered crowd for Perry’s at-times bracing diagnosis of how the technological wizardry (devilry?) of the modern era, and its gadgets, delivered so much comfort, convenience, personal freedom, and entertainment on demand that we would forget the miracle of everyday life made effortless (by historical standards) and start souring on each other.

For this is at least one of Perry’s arguments: that the invention of washing machines, reliable contraception, Wi-Fi, and now the smartphone, have been so good at freeing us that they’ve managed to free us of each other. Making men, especially, redundant, Perry argues. No one saw that planned obsolescence coming!

Or predicted the ways modern life would cut a swathe, Grim Reaper-style, through relationships. In Perry’s estimation, sex and romance is cratering, friendship is fracturing, cousins are in short supply, and the coming global fertility crash will deliver us into a poorer world of tomorrow.

I’ll be honest, I was expecting audible gasps and walkouts as Perry politely, even merrily, dispensed with contemporary dogmas left and right. Mostly left.

Where was the Christianity? It emerged, eventually. But honestly, with everything else, who cared? (Kidding. We really do). But 2026’s RJL delivered sparks and provocations in spades. Bring on 2027.

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