Industrial Society and Its Future
Theodore Kaczynski, Ted Kaczynskithat appeared in the Friday, Sept. 22, 1995 editions of Washington Post. The text was sent in June, 1995 to The New York Times and The Washington Post by the person who calls himself “FC,” identified by the FBI as the Unabomber, whom authorities have implicated in three murders and 16 bombings. The author threatened to send a bomb to an unspecified destination “with intent to kill” unless one of the newspapers published this manuscript. The Attorney General and the Director of the FBI recommended publication1. The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a
disaster for the human race. They have greatly increased the
life-expectancy of those of us who live in “advanced”
countries, but they have destabilized society, have made life
unfulfilling, have subjected human beings to indignities, have
led to widespread psychological suffering (in the Third World
to physical suffering as well) and have inflicted severe damage
on the natural world. The continued development of technology
will worsen the situation. It will certainly subject human
beings to greater indignities and inflict greater damage on the
natural world, it will probably lead to greater social
disruption and psychological suffering, and it may lead to
increased physical suffering even in “advanced” countries.
2. The industrial-technological system may survive or it may
break down. If it survives, it MAY eventually achieve a low
level of physical and psychological suffering, but only after
passing through a long and very painful period of adjustment
and only at the cost of permanently reducing human beings and
many other li
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