Since many people will not know what the Unabomber manifesto is, will not have read it, and will not understand the parts I am posting from it, here is a summary.
The Unabomber Manifesto (original title: Industrial Society and Its Future) is an essay sent in 1995 under the pseudonym “FC / Freedom Club” to The New York Times and The Washington Post, with the threat of further attacks if it was not published.
Summary of central ideas
Main thesis: argues that the Industrial Revolution and technological-industrial development have been “a disaster” for humanity: although they increase material well-being and life expectancy, they also damage nature, destabilize society, degrade dignity/autonomy, and amplify psychological (and in poor countries, physical) suffering. It asserts that technological evolution will worsen these trends.
“Process of power” and modern malaise: proposes that people need real goals that require effort, autonomy, and achievement (“process of power”). In industrial society, many basic needs are met with little effort and obedience, which pushes people to seek substitutes: “substitute activities” (career, consumption, distant activism, sporting/scientific achievements, etc.) that would give an incomplete sense of purpose.
Criticism of “modern leftism” (according to the author): he devotes a section to describing it as a “psychological type” driven by feelings of inferiority and “over-socialization,” and warns that certain movements would end up reinforcing values that are functional to the industrial system (more regulation, integration, control).
Technology as an unreformable system: argues that a technologically advanced society depends on large organizations and remote decisions, so individual freedom is inevitably limited. He also argues that technology is an interdependent system: you cannot eliminate “bad parts” while retaining only “the good ones.”
Technology vs. freedom: he asserts that there can be no lasting compromise because technology would tend to encroach on freedom through a chain of successive “compromises.”
Future scenarios: it proposes two paths:
if the system survives, it will move toward more surveillance and control, even modifying human behavior and biology (e.g., genetic engineering) to adjust people to the needs of the system;
if it collapses, there would be chaos and suffering, but also a “new opportunity,” and he suggests that the later it happens, the worse the damage would be.
Proposed solution: advocates a “revolution” against the techno-economic basis of industrial society (not just against governments), with one guiding goal: to eliminate modern technology. It distinguishes between small-scale technology (usable by small communities) and technology dependent on large-scale organization.