cows aren’t real

Cows aren't real, bacon for breakfast was invented and speed bumps are controlling us.

Consider the humble bacon strip. In the early 20th century, the American meat industry faced a problem of declining bacon sales and needed to boost turnover. To solve this they hired the the father of modern PR, Edward Bernays. Bernays did not simply advertise, he created a sophisticated network that stretched from medical authority to kitchen tables. Physicians were recruited to endorse bacon as essential for a hearty morning meal. Advertisements positioned those crispy strips as fundamental to proper nutrition. What began as marketing transformed into cultural tradition so deeply ingrained that we now consider it entirely natural.

Cows are human inventions. These animals grazing in fields today are the descendants of wild aurochs, powerful creatures that once roamed across Europe and Asia. Through thousands of years of selective breeding, humans sculpted these animals into something that suited their needs. The domesticated cow is not simply a natural entity but a product of human intervention, appearing as an example of how humans do not merely exist within nature but actively transform it.

The philosopher Bruno Latour discusses how nature itself is not separate from culture. The environment, whether manmade or otherwise, is not a neutral backdrop against which human history unfolds but a co-participant in that history. By reshaping the aurochs into cows, or turning bacon into a 'traditional' breakfast food, humans altered the landscape, the economy, and even our own dietary patterns. But this transformation is not a one-way process. We shape the world and the world shapes us.

The concept developed by Latour is called Actor-Network Theory, which challenges the notion of human dominance over nature by showing how agency is distributed across systems. Latour argues against the long-standing dichotomy between human subjects and non-human objects. Traditional thinking suggested humans possessed agency while objects remained passive. Latour argued this was incorrect. Objects do not merely exist; they mediate, transform, and participate in complex relational webs.

Consider that secret agent sleeping under a bed of raised asphalt we call a speed bump. We'd all think it's a pretty inanimate and potentially pretty annoying passive object. But think about it, when you approach a speed bump, you don't slow down because a police officer ordered you to, but because the object itself has been delegated authority. The bump transforms a legal mandate into a physical constraint. It does not passively occupy space but actively shapes our driving habits, vehicle design, traffic patterns, and even urban planning. Through Latour's lens it is an active agent performing crucial social work. The speed bump does not simply exist; it mediates human behaviour, enforces traffic regulations, and translates abstract concepts like "drive safely" into physical reality.

Or what about something we use every single day both at home and at work, a door. Most of us would view it as a simple mechanical device. When the door is closed it controls human movement, maintains temperature and prevents noise transmission. Not only that, doors tell us who's in and who's out, who walks through doors first and who pushes through hold huge cultural baggage. The door closer is not just an object but a silent administrator of social protocols.

And one we all know too well is of course the smartphone. The phone in our pocket is not merely a passive device we use; it actively shapes our behaviour, social interactions, perception of the world and can even dictate the value of our lived experience.

Latour's work shows us that society never exists in isolation from the non-human. Our social arrangements are always entangled with technologies, animals, plants, buildings, landscapes, and countless other material entities. The modern distinction between nature and society is itself a cultural invention that obscures more than it reveals.

If humans are not separate from nature (or the non-human) but embedded within it, then the problems we face like biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change are not merely external crises to be solved but manifestations of an entangled reality. Solutions cannot come from assuming humans are in control, and also not from surrendering to the idea that nature is beyond our influence or something we should be trying to 'return to'. Instead, they require an understanding of the networks that bind us together and to the non-human world. We can see that the relationship between humans and their environment is not one of control but of constant conversations, an ongoing dance of influence where no single actor holds absolute power.

Actor-Network Theory invites us to become more attentive observers and participants of the world. It is an ongoing negotiation, a process of mutual influence where agency emerges from relationships rather than residing in any one entity alone.

So the next time you bite into morning bacon, glide over a speed bump, glance at a cow, walk through a door or just get out your phone to take a selfie, remember that everything acts, everything connects, and nothing stands alone. The world shapes us and we shape the world.