Customer Reviews

The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society and Its Future

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Mr. Kaczynski writes a very well-elaborated essay on Industrial or modern-day society. He makes very intellectual and sincere observations on the modern world regarding its focus on technology and the associated economic and political systems created around it, which together he defines as "the system". He goes on to explain how the system has infiltrated core human activities such as our jobs, our entertainment, and our concept of mental health. He then explains how the shift from our instinctual survival-based existence to one of pure technological advancement came about. He describes this in terms of goals related to human behaviour and contentment. In essence he states that technology came about to aid our survival needs, but (perhaps once our needs were being sufficiently met) technology eventually evolved as a goal in itself. The focus shifted from how can we meet our human needs to how can technology keep evolving. New systems were created in economy and politics, for example, to govern this new quest of technology. As a consequence of this shift from the human to the industrial, he discusses, there comes a new wave of problems in government and lack of intellectual stimulation. The system therefore has created new problems which the system then tries to control via methods such as the entertainment industry, psychotropics, and military groups. Mr. Kaczynski's premise is that none of these problems would be problems if the basic focus had remained on the human and meeting his instinctive goals. He then calls forth a revolution on this modern society in order to create a paradigm shift that will bring us closer to what it is to be human in the flesh. However, unlike traditional revolutionaries, he does not propose a change in governmental head or even governmental method, but rather a complete absolution on what we've come to regard as Industrial Society.

It is hard to flaw this piece of writing from a literature point of view. It is reasonably well-researched, broad, and cohesive. Strikingly, it is very sincere, though one may want to flaw Mr. Kaczynski's views (especially considering those that brought about his crimes and subsequent imprisonment), his arguments are so well elaborated that they are difficult to refute if only because he makes it so easy to follow his train of thought.

First let me state that I in no way support, condone or admire any of the terrorist actions taken by the author as the Unabomber, I was intrigued enough by the Wikipedia posting of this pamphlet to get the hard copy, so as to sit down and spend some time inside the mind of someone outside the realm of our normal everyday life. And I realize that as a result of buying this, I am now, no doubt, on at least one Government watch list, such is the world we now live in, but information is information and for the moment at least, I have the right to read what I want to.

This is not an easy pamphlet to read, it really does meander all over (endless footnotes and citings), as Kaczynski's mind seems to have and yet I found myself in unwilling agreement with some of his arguments (or rants, if you prefer) against the effects of a technological society on the rights and well being of the individual and the planet. Now the reader must bear in mind that this "work" was done over some time, but started long before the Green Movement was most Westerners new religion, so to say that the author was in some ways prescient about the global tipping point we find ourselves at and the true root of it all (technological society/Big Business) at least in Kaczynski's mind, is troubling, after all, isn't he criminally insane? How can he be "right" or "correct" about anything, or more to the point, how can his "manifesto" find any resonance with those of us professing to be sane in an increasingly insane world?

Perhaps this work called to the Luddite or the closet conservative in me, but regardless of it's origins, I thought it worth the read.

Enter at your own risk... here there be dragons.

For anyone interested in anarcho-primitivism, and ideologies like such. Good piece in a historical, sociological, psychological, and philosophical sense. Recommended for well read people.

Dr. Kaczynski's manifesto is the most important economic and political treatise since Karl Marx wrote his Communist Manifesto. The essay lays out a very logical outline of the hidden effects of modern technology. The manifesto is based on the premise that human freedom and pursuit of self sufficiency without the aid of a large society should be the ultimate goal of all individuals, and without freedom and opportunity to be challenged in the pursuit of one's basic needs people become miserable. Kaczynski argues that the roots of all problems in modern society are technological advances; thus, he argues that - as a matter of principle - technological advances should be rejected. To start with, he argues that biotechnology is a prime area for rejection. Ironically, Kaczynski specifically counsels against violence, instead he argues that people should become aware of damages caused by modern technology and should have allot of children; so, when the time comes, there will be enough people against the technology to destroy the system with ease. In any case, this is a must read for all that are interested in modern political science, sociology and economics.