> We've distilled humanity to a grainy facsimile of its most mediocre traits, and now find ourselves alarmed and saddened by what has appeared in the mirror.

I think it's important to point out that this seems to be a near universal failing when humans attempt to examine themselves critically as well. Jung called it the shadow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology) "The shadow can be thought of as the blind spot of the psyche."

There lives everything we do but don't openly acknowledge.