Criticism of Artificial Culture

"...the impoverishment of society and the individual is just not going to be changed with modern technology. That's right at the heart of what is so chronically wrong with the fabric of society."

John Zerzan is the author of: Primitive Future shown at Eco-Action (1994, Autonomedia), Questioning Technology: A Critical Anthology (co-edited with Alice Carnes, Freedom Press) and his 1988 book, Elements of Refusal will be re-released shortly by CAL Press.

He has also written numerous essays, many of which are published in Anarchy Magazine, and he is completing a book of new essays. Anarchy Magazine C.A.L. Press POB 1446, Columbia, MO 65205-1446, jmcquinn@mail.coin.missouri.edu

A modern primitive, Zerzan moved to Eugene in 1981 and several years later began to advocate a form of anarchy called "primitivism." By Zerzan's reckoning, mankind took a wrong turn 10,000 to 12,000 years ago when humans went from hunting and gathering their food to farming. He thinks that led to the technological world, which turned humans down a dangerous path.

Zerzan's reading convinced him that primitive humans weren't brutes but were smart, free of infectious and degenerative diseases, shared food, enjoyed leisure time and didn't get hung up on gender. He lays the blame for many of today's problems -- escalating teen suicide, gunfire violence in schools, wide-scale use of antidepressant drugs-- on technological civilization and capitalism.

on-line links:

TONALITY and TOTALITY
Autonomedia Anti-copyright @ 1994
The Mass Psychology Of Misery
An essay which locates the cause of widespread depression and mental ill-health in contempory work methods, use of technology, etc.
Time & Its Discontents
Recollection Books On-Line Pamphlet
Worse & Worse
Recollection Books On-Line Texts
Anarchist, Kaczynski sharing spotlight Eugene resident John Zerzan's jailhouse visits to the Unabomber defendant bring his views to the nation's attention
News article in The Oregonian
Spunk Library Essays
The Mass Psychology Of Misery, Technology, Niceism, Culture, Feral, Community, Division of Labor, Progress, Society, etc.