This is a spirited defense of traditional values (the “Tao”, as Lewis calls it) and a criticism of a certain way of seeing the progress of science. The last lecture especially, where he describes man’s absolute conquest of nature as the abolition of man, is very reminiscent of Brave New World, where of course he abolishes man to create the citizens of the World State.
I saw this book referenced in r/The_Donald and a National Review article criticizing the placement of Mack Beggs, a transgered teen who was born female and is taking testosterone, to a female wrestling tournament, where he subsequently won the championship. He was also undefeated for the season. Nevermind that Lewis might object with however they are using his words: he was careful in the book to be very vague about what the Tao is, for his aim was to defend its existence, not to explicate its contents. What the Tao’s contents are is up for debate, within the Tao. What is not negotiable is the belief that there are objective values at all.
“There is nothing new under the sun.” More and more I see the truth of this. And what is indeed new might unravel the whole cloth altogether. The idea that progress accumulates linearly over time, that each step is commensurate with the one previous, that the automobile and the washing machine and the airplane and the computer are just past iterations of eugenics, genetic engineering, AI, all part and parcel of the science that birthed the modern world: this is false. The sooner we understand this, the sooner we might save ourselves.