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The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul. You will not see the world the same way. You can then read Industrial Society by Ted Kaczynski and understand his desperation.

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I’ve read ISAIF; it is chock-full of good insights. He also wrote The System’s Neatest Trick, which, once seen, cannot be unseen. Will check out Ellul; thank you for the recommendation.

I've read the Trick and found it very derivate. Most interesting, but he's not discovering a new element either.

I'd wager that anyone with an average knowledge of history and a basic understanding of how social systems work, independently discovers "the trick" rather quickly and thankfully with much less cringy imaginery.

What is it derivative of?

Very interesting recommendation. Is it a slog to get through? Or readable?

Ellul is a mid-century French academic and it shows. That said once I got used to the writing I found it reasonable to get through.

The ideas are very interesting, strong second recommendation for Technological Society.

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