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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-Tech Revolution | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Tech_Revolution | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:10:23.023643+00:00 | kb-cron |
Postulate 1. One cannot change a society by pursuing goals that are vague or abstract. Instead, one has to have a clear and concrete goal. As an experienced activist put it: "Vague, over-generalized objectives are seldom met. The trick is to conceive of some specific development which will inevitably propel your community in the direction you want it to go." Postulate 2. Preaching alone—the mere advocacy of ideas—cannot bring about important, long-lasting changes in the behavior of human beings, unless in a very small minority. Postulate 3. Any radical movement tends to attract many people who may be sincere, but whose goals are only loosely related to the goals of the movement. The result is that the movement's original goals may become blurred, if not completely perverted. Postulate 4. Every radical movement that acquires great power becomes corrupt, at the latest, when its original leaders (meaning those who joined the movement while it was still relatively weak) are all dead or politically inactive. In saying that a movement becomes corrupt, we mean that its members, and especially its leaders, primarily seek personal advantages (such as money, security, social status, powerful offices, or a career) rather than dedicating themselves sincerely to the ideals of the movement. Rule (i) In order to change a society in a specified way, a movement should select a single, clear, simple, and concrete objective the achievement of which will produce the desired change. Rule (ii) If a movement aims to transform a society, then the objective selected by the movement must be of such a nature that, once the objective has been achieved, its consequences will be irreversible. This means that, once society has been transformed through the achievement of the objective, society will remain in its transformed condition without any further effort on the part of the movement or anyone else. Rule (iii) Once an objective has been selected, it is necessary to persuade some small minority to commit itself to the achievement of the objective by means more potent than mere preaching or advocacy of ideas. In other words, the minority will have to organize itself for practical action. Rule (iv) In order to keep itself faithful to its objective, a radical movement should devise means of excluding from its ranks all unsuitable persons who may seek to join it. Rule (v) Once a revolutionary movement has become powerful enough to achieve its objective, it must achieve its objective as soon as possible, and in any case before the original revolutionaries (meaning those who joined the movement while it was still relatively weak) die or become politically inactive. In order to support these postulates and rules, this chapter analyzes various historical figures, revolutions, and radical movements, including the Russian Revolution, French Revolution, Chinese Communist Revolution, and Irish Nationalist Movement.
=== Chapter 4: Strategic Guidelines for an Anti-Tech Movement === The fourth chapter of this book presents 30 guidelines for anti-tech revolutionaries to follow. The author recommends anti-tech revolutionaries to study the works of Leon Trotsky, Saul Alinsky, Philip Selznick, and Neil Smelser.
== See also ==
Anarcho-primitivism Criticism of technology Collapsology Green anarchism Industrial Society and Its Future Jacques Ellul The Technological Society (1954/64) Man and Technics (1931) Neo-Luddism Pentti Linkola Philosophy of technology Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes The Question Concerning Technology (1954) Radical environmentalism Revolution Social Movement Technological Slavery Concepts
Loose coupling Cascading failure Holocene extinction Accelerating change
== References ==