potash 's review for:

Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How by Theodore John Kaczynski

5.0

informative reflective medium-paced

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Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How is the product of decades of research in history, revolutionary movements, and the development of societies. And you can certainly tell while reading it. Every part of the book is exceptionally rational, objective and is backed up by mountains of evidence. But at the same time the book avoids becoming esoteric, its ideas are expressed in a clear and lucid manner. All three of Kaczynski's books are vital for a comprehensive understanding of the technological system, how societies function and evolve, how to successfully change society, and the dynamics of social movements. But Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How takes it to another level. Although some of the ideas expressed in the book have been mentioned in Kaczynski’s earlier works, Anti-Tech Revolution stands out by delving much deeper into these ideas. For example, Kaczynski has mentioned in all of his texts that it is impossible to plan out a new type of society on paper and then make it a reality, and that there are serious limits to reform. But only in Anti-Tech Revolution does he devote an entire chapter to all of the reasons why the development of a society cannot be subject to rational control. Kaczynski has previously mentioned that quality is more important than quantity when forming a revolutionary movement, but only in Anti-Tech Revolution does he devote two entire chapters to the ins and outs of forming a successful revolutionary movement. 

But the book doesn’t stop at adding on to Kaczynski’s previous ideas, he also explores topics that were previously untouchedTo name just a few examples, he explains the long-term impacts of dangerous competition among self propagating systems, debunks the idea of technologically induced immortality being desirable or possible, explains the potential of grave harm that would come come with  geo-engineering, describes the need for revolutionary movements to hold a singular clear and concrete goal, and lays out an expected pattern for a revolution against the technological system. 

It’s easy to criticize the modern world, and to imagine a new society without its many  problems. It is much harder to put one's ideas into practice. So most people do the former, they dream up naive schemes to invent some new utopia, while being ignorant of the tenability of achieving such plans. But Kaczynski is not interested in such daydreaming, he’s wholeheartedly focused on the destruction of the technological system. Kaczynski has spent decades studying revolutionary movements, what makes them succeed and what makes them fail. Anti-Tech Revolution uses this information to guide the path which an anti-tech movement might take. In Chapter 3, he lays out 4 postulates and from them 5 rules that revolutionaries must take note of in order to achieve their goals. Although these rules are not rigid laws which must be obeyed under all circumstances, they have all played a decisive role in determining the successes and failures of revolutionary movements. Kaczynski dives deep into the history of revolutionary movements, and how their adherence or their ignorance of the rules has impacted them. 

Additionally, he analyzes the structure and tactics used by previous successful revolutionary movements and explains how they might be applied to an anti-tech movement today. For example, communist movements would frequently infiltrate non-communist movements and organizations, and would slowly climb the ladder of power in them, moving the organizations in a pro-communist direction. Kaczynski explains how an anti-tech movement could infiltrate organizations with similar values, such as radical environmentalist organizations, and could influence these organizations in an anti-tech direction. Of course, the methods of previous revolutionary movements cannot be copied exactly and then rigidly applied, but they do provide ideas. And it would be rash to dismiss the tactics of previous revolutionary movements out of disagreements with their ideologies. “It takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes but an even wiser man to learn from others.” - Zen Proverb

In my opinion, Anti-tech Revolution is the greatest book ever written by Ted Kaczynski, and one of the most important works ever written. I have listed only a few of the many crucial ideas explored in the book and I strongly urge you to read it for yourself.