CabinInTheWoods

“The system has to regulate human behavior closely in order to function. At work people have to do what they are told to do, otherwise production would be thrown into chaos. Bureaucracies have to be run according to rigid rules. To allow any substantial personal discretion to lower-level bureaucrats would disrupt the system and lead to charges of unfairness due to differences in the way individual bureaucrats exercised their discretion. It is true that some restrictions on our freedom could be eliminated, but generally speaking the regulation of our lives by large organizations is necessary for the functioning of industrial-technological society. The result is a sense of powerlessness on the part of the average person. It may be, however, that formal regulations will tend increasingly to be replaced by psychological tools that make us want to do what the system requires of us. (Propaganda, educational techniques, "mental health" programs, etc.)” —Ted Kaczynski, “Industrial Society and Its Future, paragraph 114. The reason for the system's undying desire to maximize efficiency at the cost of human freedom is the nature of such systems themselves. The industrial-technological system, along with most other forms of systems (e.g. nations, corporations, families, etc.), are all self-propagating systems, meaning that they strive for their survival and benefit in the short-term above all else: nations demonstrate this by fighting wars to gain influence or resources. Corporations always attempt to gain a higher net gain and (if required) a higher production base. Families, although generally weak today, used to rival other families and would commonly attempt to gain wealth and power as an entity, and in some societies would abandon weak newborns. Realizing that human nature is in the way of the system's propagation, it’s a certainty it will use various means of control to regulate and eventually eliminate that. Industrial Society and Its future presents the reality of the modern world clear-cut and logically, identifying the various factors which negatively impact individuals and society as a whole. Ever since the publishing of the book (1995), it has been shockingly prophetic in predicting the future, and has gained a recent upsurge of interest. All in all, Industrial Society and Its future is definitely worth a read.