human

I really enjoyed In the Beginning... Was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson but was very unhappy with Snowcrash. The writing was compelling but the themes and story were infantile. Similarly with Doctorow, his nonfiction is amazing but his fiction is lacking, for different reasons. I think I would have liked it before I had a sense for good and bad writing or any understanding of literature at all. Some neat ideas but clunky delivery. Bruce Sterling is a great writer and the story is incredible and he was able to predict so many things that are actually not too far from what is going on. Obviously many things are way way off but that's also cool to ponder about. I'd compare Islands in the Net to Dune actually. Some of the locations and themes have parallels.

IIRC The Moon Moth by Jack Vance was not really anything to do with machines but just an exploration of an alien culture. (I only read the graphic novel version.) I think there are many such stories having to do with alien cultures. A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber also comes to mind as something with not much focus on machines. I think there may have been some sort of life signal scanner at the end but I think it still fits what you're looking for.