Anti-Tech Revolution

Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How

Author	Ted Kaczynski
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Criticism of technology
Genre	Non-fiction

Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How is a 2016 non-fiction book by Ted Kaczynski.

Synopsis

In the book, Kaczynski criticizes modern technological society (or "world-system" in Kaczynski's terminology) as a "self-propagating system" (which is a "self-propagating supersystem" consisting of various "self-propagating subsystems") that only seeks short-term benefits due to natural selection. He also argues that "the development of a society can never be subject to rational human control" (also the title of the first chapter) due to the unpredictable nature of the self-propagating system's evolution. As the self-propagating system continues to evolve, it will become ever more tightly coupled and highly complex, which are factors that greatly increase the risk of a catastrophic breakdown happening due to cascading failure.

Chapter 2 provides a detailed explanation of "why the technological system will destroy itself," and predicts that due to progressive collapse, modern globalized society will completely collapse and destroy all life on the planet if allowed to continue developing in the "business as usual" scenario. Government policies will not be able to stop these self-propagating systems, since the pressures of natural selection would cause them to circumvent such policies by any means possible.

Chapters 3 and 4 provide guidelines for an "anti-tech movement." However, there is no explicit mention of violence, since the book was written at the ADX Florence supermax prison and had to pass through prison censors.

Propositions

The first two chapters of the book present the following seven propositions:

• Proposition 1 states that self-propagating systems will arise in any environment with optimal conditions and sufficient resources. These systems become increasingly complex as a result of natural selection.
• Proposition 2 states that self-propagating systems only seek short-term, rather than long-term, benefits.
• Proposition 3, a corollary of Proposition 2, states that self-propagating subsystems of a given supersystem tend to become dependent on the supersystem and on the specific conditions that prevail within the supersystem.
• Proposition 4 states that the geographical operational areas of self-propagating systems are limited by distance and communication.
• Proposition 5 expands upon Proposition 4 by stating that natural selection tends to produce self-propagating systems that take up maximum resources.
• Proposition 6, drawing upon Proposition 5, states that natural selection is now producing self-propagating systems that span the entire globe.
• Proposition 7 states that due to technological advances in minimizing or eliminating barriers to transportation and communication, natural selection is producing a world in power is concentrated in the hands of only a few self-propagating systems (e.g., superpower nations, corporations, political movements, religions, criminal networks, etc.).

Chapters

There are four chapters in the book:

1. The Development of a Society Can Never Be Subject to Rational Human Control
2. Why the Technological System Will Destroy Itself
3. How to Transform a Society: Errors to Avoid
4. Strategic Guidelines for an Anti-Tech Movement

Publication history

In 2015, the first edition was published. A second edition was published by Fitch & Madison in 2020.

See also

• Collapsology
• Pentti Linkola
• Anarcho-primitivism
• Criticism of technology
• Green anarchism
• Neo-Luddism

Concepts

• Loose coupling
• Cascading failure
• Complex system#Features

External links

• First edition of the book on Archive.org