At 35,000 words,
Industrial Society and Its Future lays very detailed blame on technology in and of itself for eroding individual freedom and autonomy, destroying
human-scale communities, and leading to widespread psychological and physical suffering. Kaczynski contends that the
Industrial Revolution harmed the
human race by developing into a sociopolitical order that subjugates human needs beneath its own. This system, he wrote, destroys nature and suppresses individual freedom. In short, humans adapt to machines rather than vice versa, resulting in a society hostile to human potential, freedom, and dignity. Kaczynski indicts technological progress for its destruction of small human communities and the rise of inhospitable cities. He contends that this relentless technological progress will not dissipate on its own, because individual technological advancements are seen as good despite the sum effects of this progress, and technological growth is beyond rational human control (i.e., autonomous). Kaczynski describes modern technological society as totalitarian force—an order in which individuals are "adjusted" to fit the requirements of the system and those outside the system are seen as pathological or "bad". This tendency, he says, gives rise to expansive police powers, mind-numbing mass media, and indiscriminate promotion of drugs, designed to conform to the needs of the technological environment. He criticizes both
big government and
big business as the inevitable result of industrialization, and holds scientists and "technophiles" responsible for recklessly pursuing power through technological advancements. He argues that this industrialized system's collapse will be devastating in the short-term, although quickening the collapse—before technology progresses further—will prevent unmitigated catastrophe for humanity and the biosphere in the future. He justifies the trade-offs that come with losing industrial society as being worth the cost. Kaczynski's ideal revolution seeks not to overthrow governments if unnecessary, but rather, the economic and technological foundation of modern society. He seeks to destroy existing society and protect the
wilderness, the antithesis of technology.
Influences Industrial Society and Its Future echoes contemporary critics of technology and industrialization such as
John Zerzan,
Jacques Ellul,
Rachel Carson,
Lewis Mumford, and
E. F. Schumacher. Its idea of the "disruption of the power process" similarly echoed social critics who emphasize that the lack of meaningful work is a primary cause of social problems, including Mumford,
Paul Goodman, and
Eric Hoffer. However, a 2021 study by Sean Fleming shows that many of these similarities are coincidental. Kaczynski had not read Lewis Mumford, Paul Goodman, or John Zerzan until after he submitted
Industrial Society and Its Future to
The New York Times and
The Washington Post. There is no evidence that he read Freud, Carson, or Schumacher. Instead, Fleming argues,
Industrial Society and Its Future "is a synthesis of ideas from [...] French philosopher
Jacques Ellul, British zoologist
Desmond Morris, and American psychologist
Martin Seligman." Kaczynski's understanding of technology, his idea of maladaptation, and his critique of
leftism are partly derived from Ellul's 1954 book,
The Technological Society. Kaczynski's concept of "surrogate activities" echoes Desmond Morris's concept of "survival-substitute activities", while his concept of "the power process" combines Morris's concept of "the Stimulus Struggle" with Seligman's concept of
learned helplessness. Fleming's study relies on archival material from the
Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan, including a "secret" set of footnotes that Kaczynski did not include in the
Washington Post version of
Industrial Society and Its Future. The scholar George Michael of
Vanderbilt University Press accused Kaczynski of "collecting philosophical and environmental
clichés to reinforce common American concerns". ==Aftermath==