Very cool to see Ortega on the frontpage. He was a fine thinker - phenomenally erudite and connected to his contemporary philosophers, but also eminently readable. He is not technical, rarely uses neologisms, and writes in an easy to digest "stream of thought" style which resembles a lecture (I believe he repackaged his writings into lectures, and vice versa).

I can recommend two of his works:

- The Revolt of Masses (mentioned in the article), where he analyzes the problems of industrial mass societies, the loss of self and the ensuing threats to liberal democracies. He posits the concept of the "mass individual" (hombre masa) a man who is born into the industrial society, but takes for granted the progress - technical and political - that he enjoys, does not enquire about the origins of said progress or his relationship to it, and therefore becomes malleable to illiberal rhetoric. It was written in ~1930 and in many ways the book foresees the forces that would lead to WWII. The book was an international success in its day but it remains eerily current.

- His Meditations on Technics expose a rather simple, albeit accurate philosophy of technology. He talks about the history of technology development, from the accidental (eg, fire), to the artisanal, to the age of machines (where the technologist is effectively building technology that builds technology). He also explains the dual-stage cycle in which humans switch between self-absorption (ensimismamiento) and think about their discomforts, and alteration, in which they decide to transform the world as best as they can. The ideas may not be life-changing but it's one of these books that neatly models and settles things you already intuited. Some of Ortega's reflections often come to mind when I'm looking for meaning in my projects. It might be of interest for other HNers!