Animate things often makes reference to something being alive, when you speak directly of animate beings the reference that you are making is to beings that are alive and that exist, this is to give color to the story and to keep the reader interested in what you wrote. But the best definition of what thomas ment by saying animate beings would be alive creatures.
You would use a comma. The semi colon acts when both what is in front and behind it can stand alone as a sentence. “With technology in the hands of so many people” does not make sense standing alone.
