Kingsnorth in his essay I linked he talks about the “progress trap”. No matter who’s in control, we will become reliant on the use of tech itself, which will bring about unexpected consequences. Hunter gatherers got so good at hunting there wasn’t enough left to support the growing population. So then they had to farm, which can support very large populations; but the whims of Mother Nature making a drought, sending in locus, making the weather too cold, too hot will cause a famine.
The aristocrats serve The Machine of Progress. They believe technological progress is good in itself, that it’s the highest value, their god pretty much. That’s what the transhumanist have been saying, that we as humans are only a step in evolution towards self aware A.I.
When you say tech could be used towards ascension what do you mean by that? Just a better easier life? Or like ascension in getting crazy high tech robot arms and l gs and living for 1000 years?
IMO technology isn’t either bad or good, it’s how it’s used. What do those in control of it value?
Part of the issue that makes progress a trap is that infinite growth on a planet of finite resources is not possible. While ancient hunter-gather societies can be forgiven for not understanding concepts like exponential growth and resource limits, humanity knows better today. If we as a species went to a steady state economy and stopped destroying the last remnants of the natural world in the pursuit of unlimited growth, then not nearly as many traps would be set.
The problem is that the major decision makers never have enough wealth, and it has become such a sickness that with as much abundance as there is in the world, most people still toil and struggle daily and massive wars are fought for resources, all because the abundance is not shared. Aristocracy seeks to maintain a paradigm of constant growth in order to retain their power and control over the rest of humanity, and they will seek to do so no matter the expense to humanity or the planet, and no matter what everyone else wants. This sickness has gotten to the point where human interactions, personal information, biometrics, even human thoughts are being monetized because everything else has been conquered and extracted. New novel ways of exploiting and extracting from human beings keep being invented in pursuit of more for the aristocracy, at the expense of human autonomy. Further, by controlling access to the surplus and hoarding it, the aristocracy can continue to extract from and control everyone else, and they aren't ever going to peacefully give that up. The aristocracy sees themselves as being above their own humanity, hence their push toward transhumanism, and in doing so, actually have willingly forfeited their humanity in exchange for a lesser state of being.
Transhumanism would spell the death knell for humanity, by definition, and is to be fought against at all costs. Kaczynski saw this coming decades ahead of his time, even if perhaps he didn't think industrial civilization would hold out long enough for its initial stages to manifest as they have today.
When I say tech can be used for human ascension, I mean in the sense that it can be used for people to become aware of how the world they live in has been shaped by a small group of self-serving people, perhaps allow the masses of humanity to overthrow these people, and eventually allow everyone to attain a high living standard with minimal toil with a resource footprint that is in balance with what the biosphere can provide, being the double-edges sword that technology is. Will that happen? Probably not. Theoretically, it could. The alternative is that Theodore's predictions for industrial civilization come to pass, and possibly with it, human extinction. If the transhumanists win out, the latter is assured. Finding ways to balance our use of tech with concern for the limitations of the natural world is the middle ground we so desperately need as a species, and there is no room there for a selfish few to hoard most of the Earth's bounty for themselves, as billions of mouths to feed and house is already a more-than Herculean task for the planet. The planet will do just fine without us.
Haha yeah I remember having a flip phone too, I was the last guy i knew that got a smart phone!
I still have a $10 flip phone to use for my job. If my employment didn't require it, I'd probably ditch it.
www.paulkingsnorth.net
dark ecology — pk - https://www.paulkingsnorth.net/dark-ecology
