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Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How is the product of decades of research in history, revolutionary movements, and the development of societies. And you can certainly tell while reading it. Every part of the book is exceptionally rational, objective and is backed up by mountains of evidence. But at the same time the book avoids becoming esoteric, its ideas are expressed in a clear and lucid manner. All three of Kaczynski's books are vital for a comprehensive understanding of the technological system, how societies function and evolve, how to successfully change society, and the dynamics of social movements. But Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How takes it to another level. Although some of the ideas expressed in the book have been mentioned in Kaczynski’s earlier works, Anti-Tech Revolution stands out by delving much deeper into these ideas. For example, Kaczynski has mentioned in all of his texts that it is impossible to plan out a new type of society on paper and then make it a reality, and that there are serious limits to reform. But only in Anti-Tech Revolution does he devote an entire chapter to all of the reasons why the development of a society cannot be subject to rational control. Kaczynski has previously mentioned that quality is more important than quantity when forming a revolutionary movement, but only in Anti-Tech Revolution does he devote two entire chapters to the ins and outs of forming a successful revolutionary movement. But the book doesn’t stop at adding on to Kaczynski’s previous ideas, he also explores topics that were previously untoched. T name just a few examples, he explains the long-term impacts of dangerous competition among self propagating systems, debunks the idea of technologically induced immortality being desirable or possible, explains the potential of grave harm that would come come with geo-engineering, describes the need for revolutionary movements to hold a singular clear and concrete goal, and lays out an expected pattern for a revolution against the technological system. It’s easy to criticize the modern world, and to imagine a new society without its many problems. It is much harder to put one's ideas into practice. So most people do the former, they dream up naive schemes to invent some new utopia, while being ignorant of the tenability of achieving such plans. But Kaczynski is not interested in such daydreaming, he’s wholeheartedly focused on the destruction of the technological system. Kaczynski has spent decades studying revolutionary movements, what makes them succeed and what makes them fail. Anti-Tech Revolution uses this information to guide the path which an anti-tech movement might take. In Chapter 3, he lays out 4 postulates and from them 5 rules that revolutionaries must take note of in order to achieve their goals. Although these rules are not rigid laws which must be obeyed under all circumstances, they have all played a decisive role in determining the successes and failures of revolutionary movements. Kaczynski dives deep into the history of revolutionary movements, and how their adherence or their ignorance of the rules has impacted them.

Technological Slavery is the most unique of Kaczynski's three books. ISAIF and Anti-Tech Revolution are works focused on the problems of the technological system, how it cannot be reformed, and how it can be destroyed. Technological Slavery is more broadly focused. The book is primarily based on Kaczynski's letters to various correspondents on the issue of technology instead of his essays. This makes Technological Slavery a distinctive reading experience, which exposes us to Kaczynski’s ideas in a different way. This is the only one of his books where he directly addresses strategies others ask him about, answers their questions and debates defenders of the system. Technological Slavery introduces many new and important ideas, such as the concept of learned helplessness, the prevalence of natural selection among social groups, how the system uses leftism to take advantage of the rebellious instincts that many of us feel under such an oppressive system, and many more. Technological Slavery greatly expands your knowledge on many subjects relevant to anti-tech ideology and I firmly recommend it. The conventional notion is that history is determined by an elevator of moral progress, in which we slowly but surely chose to make society more equitable and humane. Human intentions are the decisive factor in determining the course societies take–so the thinking goes–and they are thus responsible for the problems we face and therefore also have the potential to provide the reforms necessary to solve these problems. In other words, humans have primary agency in determining the course of society’s evolution over the long-term. “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice” - Martin Luther King. Technological Slavery thoroughly debunked this fairytale and proposes its own theory: history is dictated by objective conditions/natural selection rather than human intentions. Kaczynski argues that human intentions do not and cannot dictate the course of history, outside of 3 exceptions which he acknowledges at the start of the book. He also acknowledges that there are instances in which human intentions can have long-term consequences on society as a whole, but even in these cases what follows is not what the individuals who caused the change desired or expected. Natural selection among human societies works in a similar manner to natural selection in biology. Just as animals that have traits which allow them to best propagate themselves replace the animals without such traits, in human societies social groups with the traits that best allow them to propagate themselves replace social groups without such traits. There is however a difference between the two: among human societies natural selection also works through imitation rather than replacement alone. It is common for less successful social groups to imitate the traits of successful social groups. The spread of democracy is often used as an example of human intentions changing the world for the better. It is widely accepted that democracy was adopted because of a desire for freedom, equality, and political representation. Kaczynski challenges this notion, and argues explains that the real reason democracy was adopted was because it was believed to be most conducive to economic prosperity and technological progress. When undemocratic regimes showed that they could achieve prosperity without democracy, interest in democracy was lost. So the widespread adoption of democracy does not refute the theory of natural selection, but rather it is a prime example of it.

A book so logical that it is respected even in a culture based around everything it opposes. Practically every person who reads the book, even moderate tech optimists such as Bill Mahr, will admit that Kaczynski made a lot of great points. ISAIF may not be the first critique of technology, but it is certainly the most radical, rational, to the point, and properly explained critique of it. The book can explain to anyone, regardless of if they have heard anti-tech arguments before, how the technological system disrupts the power process, insults human dignity, is incompatible with freedom and why it cannot be reformed and must be destroyed. But Kaczynski does not stop at criticizing the technological system; it is easy to explain problems but it is much harder to propose a solution. Kaczynski goes into great detail on why the system cannot be reformed and why revolution is our only hope to solve the problems that stem from modern technology. The technological system brings many problems: it destroys the environment, disrupts small scale communities, leads to overpopulation, heightens social stresses and so on. But among these there is one problem which stands out among the rest: Freedom. Everyone shares a desire for freedom in one way or another, when one has acquired a taste for freedom he will go to any lengths to obtain it. Millions have fought and died for what they saw as their freedom throughout history. It may not be hard to think of one or two ways in which the technological system strips us of our freedom, but ISAIF explains how the system is fundamentally incompatible with freedom in every facet of life. It explains how the system deprives us of our autonomy, degrades our dignity, disrupts our “power process,” , subjects us to the impacts of decisions made by men thousands of miles away whom we are unable to influence, makes us dependent on it instead of being dependent on ourselves, subjects us to oversocialization, highly regulates every aspect of our lives, makes man a cog in the social machine, how technological advances that might not appear to threaten freedom often do in the future and so on. Kaczynski explains how these problems are not bugs in the system, they are not the product of mismanagement or corruption but rather are necessary for the technological system to function. Kaczynski makes it clear that technology and freedom are irreconcilable, and that even if by some miracle the system could solve all of its other problems it would remain unacceptable due to its attack on freedom and dignity alone. ISAIF is the perfect introduction to anti-tech ideology and is essential for anyone who wants to learn about anti-tech ideas.