The goal of this book has been to show that the writing of Michel Houellebecq helps us to think about what it means to be human in an era that can be considered posthumanist in two respects: first, that more than ever we have an understanding of how our own species is governed by patterns of behaviour whose causality is ultimately not that different from that found in other animals; and second, that we have within our grasp the possibility of real genetic and prosthetic modifications that could operate an ‘improvement’ upon the basic model of Homo sapiens. In his discussions of sexuality, Houellebecq shows how we are caught between these two conceptions. On the one hand, sex remains a brutal competition for the most eligible mates and one's stock in the sexual marketplace is largely determined by genetic factors entirely beyond one's own control. But, on the other hand, we are irreparably alienated from relating to our sexuality in any ‘natural’ or instinctual way because we are surrounded by sexual prostheses. These may include literal bodily additions such as sex toys or cosmetic enhancements, but most commonly these prostheses take the form of the endless sexual representations we are obliged to consume and that have the ultimate effect of turning our own sexuality into a representation from which we are chronically distanced (hence the problem of ‘performance anxiety’ which arises from the fear that the instinctual physical response will not match up to the representation). In ideological terms, our western societies circulate both a persistent social Darwinism, leading to the belief that only the strongest and most genetically ‘blessed’ deserve sexual happiness, but also a popular democratic socialism implying that everyone is entitled to expect their share of sexual ecstasy. In all this confusion, it is unsurprising that some individuals slip through the erotic net altogether, and are left unsure whether their reaction should be one of resignation to their fate or bitterness at a perceived injustice. Plateforme and La Carte et le territoire, meanwhile, create a vision of the economic universe. Here is a humanity irrevocably overtaken by the prosthesis of the global economy, a superstructure that grows out of human relations and yet comes to determine those relations in unpredictable and unintended ways.