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Industrial Society and its Future

notes(aka The Unabomber Manifesto) Ted KaczynskiIntroduction The industrial revolution has been a disaster for the human race and for nature. Though humans benefit from advanced technology in some ways (such as increasedlife expectancy), technology has dehumanized us, degraded our culture, and causedwidespread environmental destruction. The problems will get worse as technologybecomes more advanced in the future, possible leading to mankind’s downfall. The industrial-technological system may or may not break down. If it survives, itmight actually create a new age of physical and psychological prosperity forhumankind in the long run, but humans will still be reduced to cogs in a giantmachine (no dignity or autonomy), and the world will necessarily have to go througha period of great suffering to reach that point.If the industrial-technological system breaks down, it will cause a major crisis forhumankind, but the end result will be a happier life for everyone. The longer it takesfor the breakdown to happen, the bigger the system becomes, the more dependentpeople become on it, and the bigger the crisis will be, so it makes sense to hastenits destruction to minimize human suffering. This manifesto will adviserevolutionaries on how to destroy the industrial-technological system. The overthrow of the political systems of modern nations is insufficient: The coreindustrial and technological bases of society must be eliminated. The Psychology of Modern LeftismLeftism is comparable to mental illness.Leftists support causes such as gay, female and minority rights, animal rights,political correctness, and socialism. They are fragmented in many ways, but at thesame time are united by a common psychology.Almost all leftists are plagued by feelings of inferiority. A smaller yet highlyinfluential group of leftists suffer from oversocialization.Feelings of inferiorityIncludes low self-esteem, powerlessness, depression, defeatism, guilt, and self-hatred.Leftist feelings of inferiority produce hypersensitivity. One symptom of this is thestigmatization of once-innocuous terms like “Negro,” “oriental” and “handicapped.”Ironically, those leftists who are the most politically correct and the most easilyoffended by “affronts” to minorities typically do not belong to the minority groups inquestion. The tenured academic elite, which is overwhelmingly white and male, isthe core of leftism.Leftists feel inferior at a personal level, and as such self-identify with groups thatthey perceive as inferior in some way, for instance being weak or defeated (womenor Native Americans). They will never admit that this is the source of their interest.Feminists, for instance, are eager to prove that women are as strong and as capableas men, which indicates that they are in fact doubtful that women are the equals of males.Leftists typically express a disdain and even hatred for America and the Westbecause the two are or were imperialist, sexist, racist, warlike, and ethnocentric,but when it is pointed out that societies that the leftist likes (i.e. - socialist countries,1

 

[Type text]more primitive cultures, nonwhite-dominated cultures) possess the same negativecharacteristics, the leftist will either try to excuse these flaws or only begrudginglyrecognize them. The hypocrisy belies the leftist’s true motivation: He hatesanything that is strong and successful because he perceives himself to be theopposite. Western civilization and powerful countries like the U.S. therefore becomethe targets of the leftist’s hate. Veiling that hate under criticisms of imperialism orbigotry is merely a rationalization. Leftists also hate rationality.Leftists like collectivism and anonymity because they shield him from competition,which he does not feel he can withstand thanks to his defeatist mindset.Leftists prefer artwork that is defeatist in tone, sordid, or totally irrational.Leftist intellectuals channel their personal hostility through academic attacks on“cultural insensitivity.”Leftists hate science and rationality because those two fields are objective ratherthan subjective, and cast some things as “superior” or “inferior”; “successful” or“unsuccessful.” Therefore, many leftists have attacked concepts such as IQ, mentalillness, and genetic causes of human behavior and traits because they cast somepeople as being better than others. And if in fact some person is inferior in somerespect, the leftist will always insist that it is society’s fault rather than theindividual’s.Leftists are so defeatist and so unconfident in themselves that they can only feelstrength when they belong to a large group. A confident nonleftist is individualistic,competitive and takes responsibility for himself.Since leftists feel weak, they feel a need to correct this by driving to accumulatepersonal power. Much leftist political action thus serves as a means to aggregatepower and to fulfill the aforementioned need to vent hostility. The hostile and confrontational way in which leftists spearheaded the drive foraffirmative action illustrates this. A more diplomatic approach would have facilitatedracial reconciliation and thus been the logical choice since it would have benefittedminorities and society as a whole the most. The path chosen in real life, however,proceeded so as to allow the venting of leftist hostility and the accumulation of power.OversocializationNormal socialization entails the repression of natural human impulses in order toconform to modern society. For instance, humans naturally feel hate towards peoplethey don’t like, and socialization teaches people to overcome or ignore their hate.Oversocialized people find it extremely difficult for one reason or another to departfrom what society defines as “moral” behavior. They still have immoral impulses,but feel guilty because of them. They are extremely conformist and are on a“psychological leash.” [This judgment coming from a man who had no moralcompunctions about mailing bombs to strangers.] The leftist elite—which is represented by well-known intellectuals and by universityfaculty—is the oversocialized portion of the leftist movement. These leftists rebel inthe only way they can: Through rules and through conventional morality.Oversocialized leftists latch onto some widely accepted moral belief—such as thebelief that racial inequality is wrong—and then make it a personal crusade toaccuse the broader society of having failed to live up to it. [Wouldn’t Kaczynski thusadmire AI’s since they would lack the psychological “complexes” that would lead tosuch irrational leftist behaviors?]2

 

[Type text]Leftists for instance want to integrate blacks into mainstream society whilesimultaneously preserving “black culture,” but in fact, the two goals are mutuallyopposed since such integration entails the destruction of any distinctively blackculture except perhaps some of its superficial qualities (like black styles of food andclothing). The leftist in fact secretly finds the present condition of blacks to bedisgraceful, and he wants to assimilate them into his own system.Even if leftists engage in physical violence to advance their cause, the cause alwaysaccords with conventional values. The system is trying to socialize us now more than ever: “Experts” tell us what toeat, how to exercise, how to raise our kids, and how to have sex. [Really? Doesn’tmuch of this advice in fact come from rationality and science? Aren’t thereconflicting pieces of advice that one is free to choose from?] This has not been a complete sketch of liberal psychology, and surely there aremany exceptions to the rule, but for the purposes of this manifesto, it will suffice. The Power ProcessHumans have an innate need to set goals for themselves, to struggle to reach them,and to periodically achieve them. Thus, we all desire a process through which weattain power (a “power process”). A person who attains power without any process(without struggle) will, after an initial period of euphoria, become depressed sincelife will offer no more challenges to him. A person who never achieves their goals inspite of hard work will also become depressed and also defeatist. Everyone needs ahealthy balance. [This is 100% true.]Surrogate activitiesIf people have all of their material needs met, they often engage in “surrogateactivities”—artificial goals that themselves are irrelevant to the person’s physicalneeds and that are pursued purely for the challenge and for self-satisfaction. Forexample, the very wealthy often engage in full-time hobbies like hunting or artcollecting to occupy and challenge themselves, and middle-class people oftenbecome obsessed with sports or some hobby like stamp collecting. Surrogateactivities are not necessary for basic human survival, which distinguishes them fromactivities like the pursuit of food or companionship.In the modern world, one needs to exert minimal effort to get a job that pays wellenough to meet all of one’s human necessities. The quality that a successful personmust possess above all others in order to function within the system is obedience.Most remaining human endeavor, from scientific accomplishment to artisticexpression to political activism, is a type of surrogate activity.People enjoy surrogate activities because they offer autonomy and self-expression.Autonomy To varying degrees, people like some freedom to make decisions for themselves.It’s considered dehumanizing to complete tasks with no personal leewaywhatsoever, like being a cog in a machine.Some people have very weak drives for autonomy, or can satisfy it by being ananonymous part of a powerful group.When the power process is disrupted and people do not experience autonomy, theydon’t build up their own self-confidence and begin suffering from a variety of psychological problems.3