[these pages still being debugged]
I'd been almost entirely *un*interested in the Unabomber and his manifesto, until I started hearing news reports that summarized it with that trendy eightletter slur, "rambling..."
As a survivor of several intense Internet smear-campaigns, I know how beloved that word is of manipulators whose *real* intent is to keep various unconventional points of view from propagating. So I made a little promise to myself that if I read the Manifesto, and it *wasn't* rambling, I'd hypertext-ify it at my WWWeb-site, to make this fact more evident...
(I have some theories about how hypertext works, and have taken this as an opportunity to test them, as well. Basically, I've tried to create a graded series of summaries, from most-simple to most-detailed.)
The topic-area of the Manifesto isn't the sort of thing I'd ever read, on my own. It's an analysis of how the human psyche is being affected by technology: sociology-futurology-politics-ecology etc etc etc. And since I don't read that stuff, I can't really say how much it "rambles" compared to the academic classics on these topics-- but as rigorous and unflinching as it is, I suspect it probably has them all beat by miles...
You can't *fix* technology: it weakens community (45-58); it necessarily demands conformity (93-98, 114-120, 143-160); its effects are unpredictable (99-113); you can't separate out good tech from bad (121-124); in a contest with freedom, technology always wins (125-135). Even the obvious flaws like pollution are proving insoluble (136-139). (Smallscale technology is harmless, it's largescale tech that's the problem. ( 207-212))
In another hundred years, this trend may have become irreversible (161-166). We will have been extinguished, or fully domesticated (171-179). We have to smash technology now at whatever cost ( 140-142, 167-170). The startingpoint is an ideological appeal to intelligent people (180-206).
Leftist psychological traits are a threat to this movement (213-230). Leftists are compensating for feelings of inferiority by demanding that society conform to their values (6-32). High numbers of good leftists don't redeem leftism as a movement (223).
Arguments of special interest:
Nature is well-suited to be the focus of religion. (184*)
Revolutionaries should raise lots of children sharing their views. (204)
"Holy robots!" as interjection. (195)
Supporting free world trade may hasten the collapse of the system. (196)
After tasting the alternative, people will not rebuild technology. (210)
European industrialization was an anomaly, not an inevitability. (211)
To make a lasting impression, "we've had to kill people." (96b)
Section A: Introduction # The psychology of modern leftism # Feelings of inferiority # Oversocialization # (1-32) Section B: The power process # Surrogate activities # Autonomy # Sources of social problems # (33-58) Section C: Disruption of the power process in modern society # How some people adjust # The motives of scientists # (59-92) Section D: The nature of freedom # Some principles of history # Industrial- technological society cannot be reformed # Restriction of freedom is unavoidable in industrial society # (93-120) Section E: The 'bad' parts of technology cannot be separated from the 'good' parts # Technology is a more powerful social force than the aspiration for freedom # Simpler social problems have proved intractable # (121-139) Section F: Revolution is easier than reform # Control of human behavior # (140-160) Section G: Human race at a crossroads # Human suffering # The future # (161-179) Section H: Strategy # (180-206) Section I: Two kinds of technology # The danger of leftism # Final note # (207-232)It's helpful to see the manifesto in the context of this quote from FC's letter to the NY Times:
The article will not explicitly advocate violence. There will be an unavoidable implication that we favor violence to the extent that it may be necessary, since we advocate eliminating industrial society and we ourselves have been using violence to that end. But the article will not advocate violence explicitly, nor will it propose the overthrow of the United States Government, nor will it contain obscenity or anything else that you would be likely to regard as unacceptable for publication.Abstract level 3
1. Technology makes things worse for people, psychologically. 2. Any economic system based on technology turns people into cogs. 3. We must break down the system now, even if this causes suffering. 4. This revolution targets not politicians but technologists. 5. This manifesto will address only points not well-covered by others.The psychology of modern leftism
6. 'Leftism' illustrates the insanity of modern society. 7. 'Leftist' will refer to a psychological type, not any set ideology. 8. This discussion will not try to be definitive in any way. 9. Leftism is defined by feelings of inferiority and oversocialization.Feelings of inferiority
10. This category includes a range of related self-negative traits. 11. Leftists go out of their way to find negative implications in epithets. 12. The most extreme cases are the privileged leftists, not the oppressed. 13. They project their inferiority onto who they secretly feel inferior. 14. For example, feminists secretly fear that women are weak and incapable. 15. Leftists' real objection to the West not its violence but its strength. 16. Leftists fear initiative and competition because they feel like losers. 17. Modern (leftist) art is negative and anti-rational. 18. Leftist philosophers reject true/false, smart/stupid, sane/insane. 19. Bullies retain some self-worth; leftists feel valuable only in groups. 20. Leftist political actions are deeply masochistic. 21. Leftism chooses counterproductive tactics for neurotic reasons. 22. If society wasn't oppressive, leftists would invent oppressions. 23. (These trends are not claimed to be absolutely definitive.)Oversocialization
24. "Leftists are not such rebels as they seem." 25. "Oversocialized" implies denial of one's 'immoral' impulses. * This represents a shift from Victorians' *sexual* mores, to aggression. 26. Extreme shaming of children leads to oversocialization. 27. The direction of leftism is determined by highly oversocialized people. 28. They believe that society needs to be more socialized-- kind and just. * Humanistic values all serve the functioning of the system. 29. For example, their ideal for blacks demands they become less 'black'. 30. Even when they use violence they rationalize it dishonestly. 31. (Again, this is only a rough analysis.) 32. All of our society is permeated with this problem, not just the left.
33. Elements of the 'power process': goal, effort, attainment, autonomy. 34. Attainment of goals *without effort* leads to frustration. 35. Basic goals include food, water, shelter. 36. Non-attainment leads to death, or frustration leading to inferiority. 37. Escaping inferiority requires both some successes and some failures.Surrogate activities
38. Wealth may lead to surrogate 'frustrations': science, art, competition. 39. Surrogate goals are not missed when real goals re-intervene. 40. Obedient Westerners are rewarded with freedom from real goals. 41. Surrogate goals are less satifying, leading to more obsessive pursuit.Autonomy
42. Most people need to feel they're controlling their own paths. * Making real decisions is too stressful for most people, though. 43. Some soldiers and complacent 'sheep' may be exceptions to this. 44. Loss of the 'power process' results in many sorts of inferiority. * Causal links between these tendencies are explored.Sources of social problems
45. Modern society has made this problem much worse. 46. Disruption of the power process is not the only problem. 47. Problems: big population, no nature, fast changes, no community. 48a. Crowded cities make for great stress. b. (People who like noisy machines must conflict with those who don't.) 49. Nature changes slowly and this makes for stability and security. 50. Technology's rapid changes necessarily promote social breakdown. 51. Technology demands loyalties in conflict with small community values. 52. For example, nepotism is replaced by meritocracy and equal opportunity. * Exceptions: Amish, gangs, gypsies. Example: China. 53. Crowding, change, and no-community are not the full story, though. 54. Ancient cities were in better shape than modern rural areas. 55. American frontier families held together despite their isolation. 56. Even arrival of lawful communities didn't upset their self-confidence. 57. This was because, unlike us, they felt in control of the changes. 58. Modern people have lost the power process of controlling their lives.
59. Drives may be attained w/ ease or difficulty, or may be unsatisfiable. 60. Today, only surrogate goals count as attainable-with-difficulty. 61a. Primitive societies centered on serious goals that required effort. b. (Modern 'effort' at work consists mainly of *obedience*.) 62. Social goals, while attainable with difficulty, don't fill this gap. 63. Advertising is designed to fabricate surrogate needs. * Material desires are not *solely* the creation of advertising. 64. The gap results in a sense of purposelessness. * Recently, purposelessness has given way to frustrated helplessness. 65. Even the self-employed are deprived of real autonomy. 66. Our choices are all defined by the system. * Deregulation is just a transfer of control from gov't to business. 67. Fewer than 1000 people make the choices that determine our lives. 68. We've traded in our psychological well-being for physical well-being. 69. Modern challenges are *draining* because they're imposed, not natural. 70. Real security is either denied us (in some ways) or supplied by others. 71. Our impulses are constrained by rules and regulations. 72. In *unimportant* matters only we have enormous freedom. 73a. Psychological coercion comes in many forms. b. (Very little wild country remains to flee to.) 74. In consequence, we fear old age, midlife crises, and having children. 75. When your life is real, you don't fear the stages of life. 76. Attempts to solve this by changing society will be more of the same.How some people adjust
77. But why are some people satisfied with the way things are? 78. Some are docile 'plantation darkies'. 79. Some have such strong drives they find real challenges to occupy them. 80. Some are so affected by advertising it creates strong drives. 81. Others are almost completely unaffected by advertising. 82. Inbetween are people who gain some satisfaction from these goals. 83a. Strong identification with a group can lead to vicarious satisfaction. b. (For example, Americans were buoyed by the capture of Noriega.) 84. Society defines surrogate goals, especially work. 85. Only rarely do these activities produce real satisfaction. 86. Even if they often did, those who accept that route are compromised.The motives of scientists
87. Science is a surrogate activity, not pure curiosity. 88. Neither is it generally motivated by huanitarian concerns. 89. Rather, it fills their need for the power process. 90. It may be largely a means to satisfy advertising-driven cravings. 91. It also offers a mass movement towards power. 92. So science is directed by drives, not ideals.
93. Technology necessarily narrows the sphere of freedom. 94. "Freedom means being in control of life-and-death issues of existence" 95. Technological controls limit our 'guaranteed' freedoms. * For example, pre-industrial America had greater real freedom. 96a. The mass media overwhelms any individual voice. b. (To make a lasting impression, "we've had to kill people.") 97a. We're allowed only those freedoms the system finds useful. b. (Simon Bolivar and Hu Han-min are two examples of this view.) c. (Their theorizing was a surrogate activity.) 98. People don't even realize how little freedom they have.Some principles of history
99. History has random components, plus these long-term trends: 100a. 1- Small changes usually produce no longterm results. b. (For example, when reformers relax, corruption returns.) c. They appear to produce results if the trend was headed that way. 101. This principle follows from the definition of 'longterm trend' 102. 2- Longterm changes change the social system as a whole. 103. 3- These changes can't be foreseen (except where history remembers). 104. 4- Social redesign can't be planned out in advance. 105. #3 and #4 result from complexity. 106. 5- Social evolution is never under rational control. 107. #5 follows from ##1-4. 108. Therefore, a revolution is needed and cannot be preplanned. 109. The American Revolution simply accelerated pre-existing trends. 110. These principles are meant to provide an antidote to naivete.Industrial-technological society cannot be reformed
111. Reforms would be rejected because they'd disrupt the system. 112. If a new society was established, it would soon change, or collapse. 113. These general arguments will be followed by more specific ones.Restriction of freedom is unavoidable in industrial society
114. Technological society *requires* conformity to rules. 115. Technology forces children to study books instead of living. 116. The greater technology's demands, the more misfits will emerge. 117a. Technology needs cooperation on a vast scale, limiting freedom. b. (Propaganda induces cooperation at the cost of demeaning people.) 118. Local, community autonomy is an illusion because of interdependence. 119a. People are expected to fit themselves to the system, not vice versa. b. ('Mental health' means conforming without showing stress.) 120. Attempts to increase worker autonomy are doomed to triviality.
121. For example, medicine depends on physics, computers, etc. 122. And medicine itself is an unnatural force in human life. 123. Genetic engineering will lead to *regulated* genetic engineering. 124. Any code of medical ethics will be imposed on the dissenting minority.Technology is a more powerful social force than the aspiration for freedom
125. Every compromise with technology leads to greater compromises. 126. Why technology is stronger than the desire for freedom 127. For example, cars seemed to offer freedom but brought more rules. 128. Changes that look harmless individually inevitably bring slavery. 129. "Technology can never take a step back"... it's irreversible. 130. Any small resistance to this trend will be swamped totally. 131. People eagerly embrace the compromises technology demands. 132. Fighting negative influences is harder than seeking positive ones. 133. Barriers may be erected, but they eventually slip and fall. 134. The current period of high stresses may open a window for overthrow. 135. If we don't take advantage of this weakness, we'll lose the chance.Simpler social problems have proved intractable
136. Environment, politics, drugs, and abuse are easier but are unsolved. 137a. The environmental problem is obvious but we can't act effectively. b. Successes are accidents of competing self-interest. 138. 'Freedom' is hopelessly abstract even compared to this. 139. Even if rational planning prevails to solve problems, freedom is lost.
140. "The only way out: dispense with the industrial-technological system" 141. "a revolutionary movement can inspire an intensity of commitment" 142. "Revolutionary fever" can make people willing to endure hardships.Control of human behavior
143. When social pressures exceed human endurance, things break down. 144. Modern technology is trying to increase endurance itself. 145. For example, anti-depressants make problems seem smaller. 146. Besides drugs, some other approaches: 147. Surveillance, coercion, propaganda, entertainment-as-opiate. * Societies that need powerful police are sick societies. 148. Education and social services are really abusive mind-control. 149. Where psych controls fall short, biological ones will be found. 150. All negative reactions to these stresses are dangerous to the system. 151. We're at a watershed, as technology learns to shape people. 152. Each restrictive step may have the appearance of humanitarianism. 153. This will make it impossible to resist. 154. For example, gene therapy to reduce anti-social behavior. 155. Behavior that doesn't fit system is seen as 'illness' to be 'cured'. 156a. Techniques for reducing stress allow the system to increase stresses. b. (People are addicted to tv even when they know it's trash.) 157. We're on the threshold of direct physical control of the brain. 158. This won't have to be as coarse as implanted electrodes. 159. By introducing it in small steps, resistance will be minimized. 160. "...yesterday's science fiction is today's fact."
161. Behavior control works better on the bourgeois than on the rebels. 162. The next 40-100 years will determine whether the system wins. 163. "its logical conclusion... complete control over everything on Earth" 164. If the system survives this crisis period, its abuses will accelerate. 165. The alternative is breakdown and a "time of troubles" and uncertainty. 166. Revolutionaries should increase stresses, and propagate this ideology.Human suffering
167. Increased suffering now may (or may not) reduce suffering later. 168. Fighting for freedom is more important than avoiding suffering. 169. Technology has brought great suffering, physical and psychological. 170. For 200 years, we've believed that it would bring solutions.The future
171. What will society be like if technology survives this crisis? 172. Robots may do all work, with or without human control. 173. Their decisions may become so complex that we can't second-guess them. 174. Or a techno-elite may be ruthless (or liberal) towards everyone else. 175a. Extreme specialization will require extreme conformity. b. Competitiveness will have to be narrowly controlled. 176. Busywork may be provided (demeaning), or people may turn to crime. 177. At present rates, in 100 years, nature and human freedom will be gone. 178. Either natural or artificial selection will shape us to that end. 179. "better to dump the whole stinking system and take the consequences"
180. The reckless technophilia can be stopped. 181. In France and Russia, stresses allowed new ideologies to triumph. 182. Even though they failed, they succeeded in destroying the old. 183. Our positive ideal is *wildness* in nature and in human nature. 184. Simply destroying technology is enough to restore nature's rule. * Nature is well-suited to be the focus of religion. 185. To gain this we have to sacrifice the benefits of technology. 186. People like simplistic explanations. 187. Intelligent people can be appealed to rationally. 188. Unintelligent people can eventually be propagandized in discreet ways. 189. For now, appealing to the intelligent is more important. 190. It's revolutionaries-vs-techno-elite, not -vs-the-masses. 191. Don't be distracted by other conflicts, which demand technology. 192. Equal opportunity for minorities is not the serious problem, now. 193. We're not fighting any *government*. * Technology may even disintegrate spontaneously. 194. Even seeking political power will be counterproductive. 195a. Technology must be attacked in all nations at once. b. The emergence of dictators is a risk worth taking. 196. Supporting free world trade may hasten the collapse of the whole. 197. Individuals should have more power over nature, organizations less. 198. Primitive individuals had more power but did less damage to nature. 199. Breaking the system will increase individuals' power. 200. Any other goal is a distraction that prolongs technology. 201. For example, implementing social justice would call for technology. 202. Revolutionaries must use technology only for attacking technology. 203. The temptation to use technology is like alcoholism. 204. Revolutionaries should raise lots of children sharing their views. 205. Fear of overpopulation is counterproductive for revolutionaries. 206. Empirical experimentation with these theories is encouraged.
207. To argue that technology can never regress is false. 208. The fall of Rome led to a regression in largescale technology. 209. Smallscale technology can survive, but not factories and powergrids. 210. After tasting the alternative, people will not rebuild technology. 211. European industrialization was an anomaly, not an inevitability. 212. Whether it ever arises again will be for the future to decide.The danger of leftism
213. When leftists take on a cause, they distort it with their psychology. 214. There's no place for leftism in this revolution. 215. It's more anarchist. 216a. Leftists embrace technology when they can control it. b. They reject freedoms when they can, eg political correctness. 217. Leftists always doublecross other revolutionaries and seize control. 218. Leftism has the same fundamentalist psychology as religion. 219. It continually seeks greater levels of control and authoritarianism. 220. If you could implement their full platform, they'd create a new one. 221. Oversocialization allows them only this expression of power process. 222. 'True Believers' might be useful if they weren't so dangerous. 223. High numbers of good leftists don't redeem leftism as a movement. 224. Power-hungry leftists will necessarily take all the power. 225. Western leftists apologised for Soviet excesses, for example. 226. So the existence of good leftists is no help. 227. There's no clear definition of leftism, unfortunately. 228. Nevertheless, we offer these criteria: 229. Anti-individual, moralistic, catch-phrases, equal rights. 230. "Crypto-leftists" are the most dangerous True Believers.Final note
231. This article expresses only a crude approximation to the truth. 232. For example, oversocialization might not be peculiarly modern.[Next: 1-32] [Up: FC/ToC] (Feedback) [Robot Wisdom: politics]