Its take on nature vs. man is different from The Machinist's in that it doesn't have overt references to the debilitating toll on spirituality
represented by industrialization (the key to The Machinist «swoes appears to be a cigarette and an American muscle machine), more concerned as it is with the toll that man's attempts to comprehend the ineffable takes on his own ability to function, ironically, as a biological entity.
The nations were unified
by their more recent
industrialization process, rapid growth, large populations and the hope that they
represented the future stars of the global economy.