[Book Review] Industrial Society and It's Future

Theodore Kaczynski's ground breaking philosophical work

I recently finished reading Industrial Society and Its Future by the brilliant Theodore Kaczynski, and although the book was published three decades ago, its ideas seem more relevant than ever. Back in the 1990s, when Kaczynski wrote this, we were just starting to see the rise of a culture of over-prescribed medications, as people sought ways to cope with a fractured society. Today, we find ourselves in a world where opiates and antidepressants are ubiquitous, and anything that deviates from the norm is increasingly medicalized and pathologized. And, of course, all of this comes with the added surveillance and control under the guise of a global health crises, resource shortages, and other totalitarian measures.

Kaczynski makes several astute observations that help shed light on the challenges we face today. One particularly striking point is his analysis of the structural issues within leftism. He argues that leftists, eager to impose their ideals on society, lack the will to actually change things. Instead, they latch onto causes that are already popular, becoming slaves to the very system they claim to want to improve. The leftist, Kaczynski suggests, is incapable of independent thought and action—acting only in ways that align with mainstream cultural standards. His critique of the pathology of leftism is thorough and compelling, offering a perspective that’s rarely explored in such detail. It’s a useful framework for understanding why the left’s supposed altruism can devolve into something darker—why their pursuit of moral superiority often turns into a path toward violence and vice, and ultimately, why their actions can be seen as destructive to society.

Kaczynski’s second major point is even more chilling: we are hurtling toward a future where human beings will be molded to fit the needs of an inhuman society. This is something we've all witnessed firsthand, from mask mandates to the rise of universal digital surveillance. In the modern world, the individual is treated with suspicion—seen as dangerous, even rogue, by the very systems that are supposed to protect us. Kaczynski, writing at a time when these totalitarian tendencies were just beginning to emerge, seemed to predict how invasive and oppressive these forces would become. Now, we live in a time when a single poorly chosen word can lead to social and economic ruin, and where public shaming by online mobs has replaced the more organized campaigns of old. His writing forces us to confront how deeply entrenched these issues have become—and how early Kaczynski saw the dangers of our increasingly authoritarian world.

Given how much closer we are now to the issues Kaczynski identified, we may have the opportunity to ask questions he couldn’t, or perhaps didn’t, consider. One pressing question is whether it's possible to use the very technology that’s shaping our lives to actually make us more human. We live in an age of instantaneous communication, and while we can all recognize the flaws in a society governed by mass media and social censorship, there might still be hope. Kaczynski was certain that the world needed to change, but he also acknowledged that what it means to be human might need to change as well. However, he may not have been able to fully grasp the potential of new solutions, which weren’t yet on the horizon in his time. Industrial Society and Its Future provides an excellent foundation for understanding the collapse of the human condition in the face of unchecked “progress.” Though the writing is apocalyptic, it offers a solid platform from which we can explore new ways to approach the human experience. To solve the problems inherent in post-industrial society, we must first recognize these issues and use that understanding to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

As a technical and philosophical work, Industrial Society and Its Future is essential reading for anyone serious about surviving and thriving in the 21st century. It provides critical insights into the forces shaping our world and challenges us to think more deeply about the direction we’re heading.