Industrial Society and Its Future, aka The Unabomber Manifesto, was published 30 years ago in 1995 and touches on many topics that are surprisingly relevant today. For instance, longevity is a popular topic today, here’s what the manifesto had to say about it:
We suggest that modern man’s obsession with longevity, and with maintaining physical vigor and sexual attractiveness to an advanced age, is a symptom of unfulfillment resulting from deprivation with respect to the power process. The “mid-life crisis” also is such a symptom. So is the lack of interest in having children that is fairly common in modern society but almost unheard-of in primitive societies. A young man goes through the power process by becoming a hunter, hunting not for sport or for fulfilment but to get meat that is necessary for food…Having successfully raised his children, going through the power process by providing them with the physical necessities, the primitive man feels that his work is done and he is prepared to accept old age and death.
LLMs and Artificial Intelligence are also major concerns today, with the potential of changing jobs and the society. Here’s an excerpt from the manifesto:
It is not possible to make a lasting compromise between technology and freedom, because technology is by far the more powerful social force and continually encroaches on freedom through repeated compromise. A technological advance that appears not to threaten freedom often turns out to threaten it very seriously later on. For example, consider motorized transport. A walking man formerly could go where he pleased, go at his own pace without observing any traffic regulations, and was independent of technological support systems… But the introduction of motorized transport soon changed society in such a way as to restrict greatly man’s freedom of locomotion. When automobiles became numerous, it became necessary to regulate their use extensively… The use of motorized transport is no longer optional. Since the introduction of motorized transport the arrangement of our cities has changed in such a way that the majority of people no longer live within walking distance of their place of employment, shopping areas and recreational opportunities, so that they have to depend on automobile for transportation. Even the walker’s freedom is now greatly restricted. In the city he continually has to stop to wait for traffic lights that are designed mainly to serve auto traffic. In the country, motor traffic makes it dangerous and unpleasant to walk long distances. In many cases the new technology changes society in such a way that people eventually find themselves forced to use it.
This is so true and we will be forced to use AI in our jobs (if they still exist).
What could stop technology? Regulation? It’s hard to predict. In the Dune universe, advanced computers and artificial intelligence are banned due to a historical war against thinking machines.
Could something similar happen in reality? Right now, I can only imagine a highly destructive event—such as a nuclear war—causing irreversible consequences. In such a scenario, the surviving human population might revert to a more primitive way of life and ban technology altogether.
