THE PATHOLOGY OF MODERNITY: Systemic Irrationality, Cognitive Dissonance and the Dystopian State

By Jerry J. Marty MD MBA

"We are drowning in information while starving for wisdom." -- E. O. Wilson.
This book examines the disintegration or distortion of shared reality in the digital age. Traditional epistemological frameworks--once grounded in reason, investigation, journalism, and evidence assessment and corroboration--have increasingly fragmented under algorithmic curation, social-media echo chambers, and engagement-driven rather than reality-based informational systems.
Organized into fourteen chapters, the work analyzes major domains of systemic dysfunction within contemporary society, including:
Drawing from psychology, sociology, existential philosophy, media, and empirical research, the book argues that modern societies increasingly exhibit characteristics analogous to individual cognitive and behavioral pathology.
A central theme is existential disorientation: the destabilization of meaning, identity, trust, and reality itself within a technologically a mediated modern society. Hyper-connectivity has not produced coherence; instead, it has intensified ontological instability, institutional mistrust, and collective cognitive fragmentation and distortion.
The author's analysis further examines whether contemporary civilization is entering an emergent dystopian condition marked by the expansion of surveillance, behavioral nudging, algorithmic influence, and growing separation from material and social reality.
The proposition - Modern Society Is "Insane" - is both philosophical and civilizational:
Has technological advancement produced progress-- or a sophisticated form of regression? Paradoxical Atavism.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0H9WCY1T2
• ISBN13: 9798317844028
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Length: 352 Pages
• Dimensions: 6.0" x 9.0"