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verelalarmas's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Never before has there been a book that has changed my world-view such as this one. Industrial Society and Its Future is a book/pamphlet/manifesto that every single person interested in politics and sociology should read right now. Kaczynski’s careful deliberation of anti-tech ideas is something that no other modern thinker has done. He was able, in a very lucid, specific way, to transfer the whole history of anti-tech works from Jacques Ellul, Julius Evola, Martin Heidegger, and others to the modern day. Not only that, he was able to add his own originality into it: his definition of the power process, freedom, and the possibility for a revolution against the world-wide technological system.
To me, the most convincing part of his work was his description of the technological system and how it threatens freedom (this is in paragraphs 111-170). He carefully lined out how we cannot properly approach the whole technological system and attempt to reform it simply because of how convoluted and powerful it is. The industrial system has, since the industrial revolution, been developing to a point where it swallows up every resource the planet has left. It not only swallows up all natural resources, but human beings too, pushing them forth to satisfy the inexorable growth of the system that eliminates freedom, nature, and man from himself. What Kaczynski illustrates through this view is that this technological system is the root cause of problems for modern society, not some politician or corporate executive (who he also sees as slaves of the system). This sort of view is a breath-takingly welcome approach which is absent from the political discourse happening in the United States (and the rest of the modern world) currently. Not only that, he does it in such a way where the conclusion is unavoidable: the system is the dominant force of history currently. The people pretending to run the system are not really the masters they seem to be. They are simply operating within the system that will dispense of those in power once they run through their usefulness.
Kaczynski’s most powerful assertion is that the system has pushed the need for “efficiency” above all else because that is what it needs to survive and grow the most. The system would not get along if people started slacking off at work or stopped working the technical jobs needed to maintain the system’s progress. The system has to limit human freedom (i.e., forcing people to do jobs and go to schools that they hate) so that it can itself survive—all of the humans be damned. This view of a catabolic system crushing human freedom is what has made me so drawn to Kaczynski’s work, because to me there is nothing really more valuable than freedom. But what I am drawn to more is Kaczynski’s idea of freedom rather than the societally established definition of freedom (which mostly keeps people locked within the system, e.g., “economic” freedom, consumer “choice”, etc.). A lot of people in modern political discourse like to talk of freedom too, but when that is done it is usually reoriented to mean something irrelevant such as LGBTQ rights, Women’s Rights, etc. Those movements are simply acting within the bounds of the system, and that is not what true freedom looks like. Those sorts of behaviors are permitted by the system because they don’t act as a hindrance to its functioning. But if people decided that they wanted to quit their jobs and live with their family and friends in the woods for example, that would be a true act of defiance, an act of freedom against which the system would ruthlessly try to prevent.
To me, the most convincing part of his work was his description of the technological system and how it threatens freedom (this is in paragraphs 111-170). He carefully lined out how we cannot properly approach the whole technological system and attempt to reform it simply because of how convoluted and powerful it is. The industrial system has, since the industrial revolution, been developing to a point where it swallows up every resource the planet has left. It not only swallows up all natural resources, but human beings too, pushing them forth to satisfy the inexorable growth of the system that eliminates freedom, nature, and man from himself. What Kaczynski illustrates through this view is that this technological system is the root cause of problems for modern society, not some politician or corporate executive (who he also sees as slaves of the system). This sort of view is a breath-takingly welcome approach which is absent from the political discourse happening in the United States (and the rest of the modern world) currently. Not only that, he does it in such a way where the conclusion is unavoidable: the system is the dominant force of history currently. The people pretending to run the system are not really the masters they seem to be. They are simply operating within the system that will dispense of those in power once they run through their usefulness.
Kaczynski’s most powerful assertion is that the system has pushed the need for “efficiency” above all else because that is what it needs to survive and grow the most. The system would not get along if people started slacking off at work or stopped working the technical jobs needed to maintain the system’s progress. The system has to limit human freedom (i.e., forcing people to do jobs and go to schools that they hate) so that it can itself survive—all of the humans be damned. This view of a catabolic system crushing human freedom is what has made me so drawn to Kaczynski’s work, because to me there is nothing really more valuable than freedom. But what I am drawn to more is Kaczynski’s idea of freedom rather than the societally established definition of freedom (which mostly keeps people locked within the system, e.g., “economic” freedom, consumer “choice”, etc.). A lot of people in modern political discourse like to talk of freedom too, but when that is done it is usually reoriented to mean something irrelevant such as LGBTQ rights, Women’s Rights, etc. Those movements are simply acting within the bounds of the system, and that is not what true freedom looks like. Those sorts of behaviors are permitted by the system because they don’t act as a hindrance to its functioning. But if people decided that they wanted to quit their jobs and live with their family and friends in the woods for example, that would be a true act of defiance, an act of freedom against which the system would ruthlessly try to prevent.
Kaczynski’s premiere work here, Industrial Society and Its Future, will be regarded as one of the greatest works of social commentary ever written simply because of how prescient it is (especially as technological progress continues). I simply cannot recommend this work enough and anyone that has any hesitancy about reading this because it is written by a “crazy person” should reconsider and purchase this masterpiece. Finally, if you liked this Industrial Society and Its Future, then you should certainly read Kaczynski’s two books, Technological Slavery and Anti-Tech Revolution.
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