Gave "Industrial Society and Its Future" a read recently, and I can't say that his reasoning is all that bad.
Partial TL;DR:
In order to feel happy, people need to go through "the power process", which involves setting real goals, making autonomous efforts toward those goals, and succeeding at least some of the time. There are 3 kinds of human drives/goals: 1) goals that are easily obtained, 2) goals are obtained through great effort, and 3) goals that are impossible. The industrial revolution created such wealth and technology that nearly all former examples of the second drive have been eliminated (i.e., securing food/water/etc. is now a triviality as long as you aren't a retard). Correspondingly, people now pursue meaningless bullshit just for the sake of pursuing something (e.g., making more money, bodybuilding), and these goals do not provide them adequate satisfaction (the money-maker is always pursuing ever more money, the bodybuilder is constantly lifting more weight). They also gain no satisfaction from easy goals and gain nothing but frustration from the impossible.
In the end, we're left with a society where many people are bored, frustrated, and placating themselves using anti-depressants and mindless mass media consumption. There is no evidence to suggest that despite these technological advances, people are happier now than they were 250 years ago. Or 500 years ago. Or 10,000 years ago.
I have to say that I found the whole thing pretty compelling.
The part about how technology is diametrically opposed to freedom also, and how new technological "options" soon become new technological "demands." Like imagine living these days without a car. Or an email address. Or a smartphone.
How soon before gene editing is a societal mandate...
Jose Long
He certainly wrote the most accurate analysis of leftism I've ever read.
i disagree on the sadness part. We are living in a time with unfounded time to do things that we want. instead of pursuit goals for ourselves we let others do it for us. Body building and making money is great if it was an ends to a mean but there is no ends in either. Things like starting a farm, learning a new trade, or even hobbies fit into 2 and 3. Problem is most people are too stupid to find one themselves and rely upon others for advice on what they should do. Look at women, unfounded time not being forced to cook en entire day. what do they do with it? pursue a hobbie? learn something new? no, they are seduced by feminism and sucked into doing whatever their masters want. the same with basedboys
Asher Reyes
Long term, stable happiness requires responsibility and sacrifice. Another reason people aren't happy is because they aren't having kids, or finding stable relationships. The only real genetic reason to exist is to continue your genetic existence via breeding.
Bentley Rodriguez
anarcho primitivism is an impossible pill to swallow
This was addressed also in a really interesting way. In primitive cultures, the different phases of life have very distinct boundaries. The young are taught self-sufficiency. When old enough, they have kids. After that, they age/die under the support of their progeny.
Today we have people postponing child-bearing indefinitely because they're still seeking fulfillment in the world from activities that will never give them fulfillment (climbing the corporate ladder, making money, etc.).
Xavier Martin
BASED Uncle Ted was the most precise prophet of our times.
