Jacques Ellul, Technique, Efficiency & Materialism: The Disease of Modern Civilization

Book Review for The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul

I acquired a copy of Jacques Ellul's The Technological Society, translated by John Wilkinson (ISBN: 978-0-394-70390-9), a few months ago. Recently, I finished reading this monumental 473 page critique of technological civilization in its entirety (everything but the bibliography and index). It took me awhile to read it for two reasons: it is rather dull and I was reading it in my spare time (literally sitting in the car before work). The book was extremely interesting but rather dry in presentation. Jacques Ellul is no doubt an intriguing intellectual, but he is fairly lacking in the emotional expression of his personality and it really makes this book a flat read.

That said, I am rather impressed at the scope and depth of his argument against the course of civilization under the direction of blind materialistic efficiency. I am most certainly of the opinion, at this time, that this text is of enormous importance and can be a useful aid in many sociological, anthropological, politically philosophical and idealogical circles.

This book speaks to me because it puts into words some of the things I had noticed and was thinking, but couldn't quite pin down. One of the overarching points which Ellul seems to be getting at is that modern civilization, which has a pervasively materialist worldview, idolizes and gives priority to the value of efficiency, and that materialist based efficiency is cold, calculated, inhuman, and absolutely dangerous and destructive to both human happiness, the value of life, and the ecosystem.

Another major point is that of how man utilizes technique as a tool to ensure his survival, comfort, and evolution through the manipulation of his environment (physical, societal, and psychological) with various techniques. However, in doing so he must adapt to the tool and therefore becomes himself manipulated (physically, socially, and psychologically) by the conditions necessary for the most efficient use of that tool, which ultimately leads to a utilitarian development of personhood directed by massification and materialistic efficiency – man becomes a sort of robotic machine.

In layman's terms and in lay psyche that translates to Jacques Ellul brilliantly defines the coming new world order by examining technique and society. He tells you how the world works, why the world works the way it does, what the various parts of the world system are, some of the methods used within the world system, the historical development of the world system, where this new world system is headed, and even who controls this world system and how much power they have.

Ellul tells us that what are enslaved to the world system: "The 'all' is involved because technique yields results and demands efforts to such a degree that no individual can remain outside. But if technique demands the participation of everybody, this means that the individual is reduced to a few essential functions which make him a mass man. He remains 'free', but he can no longer escape being a part of the mass. Technical expansion requires the widest possible domain. In the near future not even the whole earth may be sufficient." (Jacques Ellul. The Technological Society, pg. 207). He tells us how we arrived in this situation and in the same breath hints at how might free ourselves: "But when the natural is intergrated, it ceases to be natural. It becomes part of the technical ensemble. It is an element of the mechanism, an element which must play its role, and no more." (Jacques Ellul. The Technological Society, pg. 217). Finally, he tells us who controls and shapes the world order: "...there is a limited elite that understands the secrets of their own techniques, but not necessarily of all techniques. These men are close to the seat of modern governmental power. The state is no longer founded on the 'average citizen', but on the ability and knowledge of this elite. The average man is altogether unable to penetrate technical secrets or governmental organization and consequently can exert no influence at all on the state." (Jacques Ellul. The Technological Society, pg. 274). He then concludes: "Technique shapes an aristocratic society, which in turn implies aristocratic government. Democracy in such a society can only be a mere appearance. Even now, we see in propaganda the premises of such a state of affairs. When it comes to state propaganda, there is no longer any question of democracy." (Jacques Ellul. The Technological Society, pg. 275)

I found the last statement striking as it was exactly what I had been thinking when I realized that the world order was designed by aristocrats, yet the common person thinks they can somehow have freedom within a system designed specifically by and for aristocracy merely by altering one or two key components (ie. the political or economic system). What ignorance! Such naivety amounts to believing that by replacing the umpire, switching ball fields, changing teams, or introducing a new ball or bat, it will somehow result in something other than a baseball game. It seems to me that if one honestly believes they can be free within a society based upon technique and materialistic efficiency they are either ignorant to reality or blatantly delusional. How can anyone expect to obtain a very human concept (freedom) from mechanized materialistic efficiency (the world system)? How can anyone conclude that a system designed to control will ever provide individual liberty? These are just a few thoughts this book brings to mind.

Now, this is where I may differ from others who happen to agree with Ellul's assessment, as I do. I do not believe technique or technology are themselves harmful to humanity, however I firmly believe that when humanity is excluded from the equation and all technique becomes founded upon materialism and efficiency it is utterly destructive to humankind and will eventually result in the total loss of all which can be described as human. I believe this is the danger which the technological society, as described by Jacques Ellul, presents to us all, and the very cause of this present darkness. The materialistic world view coupled with technological efficiency is a disease of modern civilization and a scourge upon the universe.



All in all, The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul is an excellent book which I feel should be required reading for any conscious person despite its dry presentation. The wealth of useful information which an individual can extract from this book makes it well worth the time and effort of reading this nearly 500 page text.

Am I an Anarcho-primitivist?

I believe in freedom through simplicity, by utlizing the resources which are available to us for free and which are meant to be free, by drive and determination for self-sufficiency, and by living in harmony with oneself, one's surroundings, and one's neighbors.

In a search for my true socio-political philosophy I have tried to identify with many positions and labels. I know it is somewhat useless and I don't like being labeled, let alone labeling myself, but I guess what I am trying to do is to find an idea which closely resembles the undefined and undeveloped idea I have inside of me so that I can take that idea and compare it to my own. I am not doing this because I am incapable of original thought but for three reasons: there is nothing new under the sun; there are and have been lots of people with lots of ideas and at least one of them is bound to be very similar to my own; and it is simpler to build a logical and coherent personal philosophy if you are kept honest by testing the ideas of others against the ideas of yourself. In this search I have found that at this moment in my life I most likely identify with what is known as Anarcho-primitivism.

Wikipedia defines Anarcho-primitivism as an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization, and advocation for a return to non-civilized ways of life through deindustrialisation, abolition of the divisions of labor or specialization, and the abandonment of large-scale organizational technologies. In short, anarcho-primitivism seeks to eradicate all forms of domination and advocates a return to the simplest form of human society and its relationship to the environment. Anarcho-primitivists believe that civilized society, particularly technological society, is destroying both the environment and humanity.

Now, before I discovered this philosophy I found that I could most closely identify with libertarianism, however, I never could quite buy into unbridled capitalism even though I view socialism as much worse. Libertarianism has its roots in anarchism, so libertrianism to anarcho-primitivism is no large jump, but it is libertarianism's embrace of the underlying structure of what is “the system” which causes me to differ sharply from its basic tenets. Basically, my problem with libertarianism is the same problem I have with socialism and most all economic or political philosophies – they are based on the same underlying structure, which is “the system”. I just never understood how any of us can expect for “this” thing we live in to get any better if we keep on using the same old formula and only change the manner in which we apply its main components.

In my mind, the organism is the problem, not some part of it or fungal growth on it, so how is a different form of economics going to help any? How is privatizing schooling or leaving it public going to change the problem that is schooling, not in schooling? How is the privatizing of prisons or leaving them public going to promote individual liberty? How is a smaller or larger governing authority going to abolition despotism? How is the ownership of any property either by private individuals or by the public through the apparatus of government going to promote freedom of movement and one's natural right to the use of natural resources, not for economic gain or power, but for day-to-day survival? How can anyone expect to have individual liberty when they are forced to be part of an organism which can and will punish them for not only refusing to be part of it, but also for not being part of it in a manner consistent with what that organism deems fit to the purposes of its own survival?

I agree with anarcho-primitivism's critique of "the system". I have been questioning "What is this for? What are we trying to do with this grand experiment we call civilization? Is it delivering, has it ever delivered, and do I believe it can ever deliver whatever it is we, the people, think it did, does, or could accomplish? Who's idea was this, where did it start, and who started it? Did people opt in or were they forced in? Can people opt out or are they forced to participate through coercion? Was it all started by we, the people, or did it all begin with authoritarians, and if the latter, how can we, the people, ever expect an authoritarian system to deliver us from itself?" With these questions I am constantly critiquing modern society, its origins, purpose, and progress.

In the aspect of critique I most certainly agree with anarcho-primitivism, its value, and its necessity to the welfare of us all – without question. In the aspect of "rewilding" I am not so certain I agree with some of the more extreme elements who wish to eventually abolish written language, the division of time (think: clocks and calendars), and similar fundamental building blocks required for mere reason, not just civilization. To put it plainly, I don't think anarcho-primitivism can justifiably or even rationally conclude what it does if it attacks the very foundations of the reason it used to arrive at its conclusions. That does not mean it cannot disagree with civilization itself, for there is a difference between the system which allowed for advanced reason to develop and the fundamental priniciples of reason, but it does mean language, division, and similar basic elements of coherent thought and transmission of thought are off-limits. Taking the most extreme position, as some anarcho-primitivists do is, in my mind, always a dumb idea – extreme anything is hardly balanced and harmonious and often also irrational.

I see nothing wrong with oral language and I don't necessarily think written language is detrimental to the environment and humanity although I do agree printed or mechanically produced language (be it oral or written) has allowed for and always will allow for a loss of humanity, individuality, and is the root of many problems, particularly media exploitation – in the end I do not think all of the pros of printed or mechanically produced language justify all of the cons. I also see nothing wrong with counting, basic mathematic operations, calendars, and the measurement of cycles via the division of time. Unlike government institutions, impersonal monetary units, institutional schooling, and organized religions, I do not think the tools of language, division of time, and math are inherently only useful as mechanisms of control and domination.

So far, concerning what I know about anarcho-primitivism and my personal position on things, I applaud anarcho-primitivism's critique and I share in its critique. However, concerning its advocation of a return to non-civilized ways, I personally advocate a return to simplicity although I am not quite certain as to how far back humanity should go or how simple I believe things should be – I only know that "this" is not working. I cannot say I disagree with anarcho-primitivism's approach or some of its conclusions concerning "rewilding", but on the other hand, I cannot say at this time whether or not I agree with it enough to consider its principles desirable, necessary, or feasible.

Now, concerning environmentalism... I am not an extemist, nor do I absolutely believe in man-made climate change. Do I believe it could be a problem? Yes! Do I believe it is a problem? I'm not convinced it is currently a major catasrophe as some would have us believe. Do I believe pollution is a problem? Yes! Do I believe technology and civilization aid in pollution and are a major cause of it? Yes! Do I think humanity has a responsibility to its environment? Yes! Do I think we should be good stewards of the earth? Yes! Do I think humanity should try to have a sustainable relationship with nature and live in harmony with it? Yes! Do I think humanity should exclude itself and all of its natural drives, as part of nature, from the equation? No! Do I think "carbon taxes" and similar ideas are good and are an answer? You're out of your mind! I agree with many thngs, but I do have my limits, although I remain open-minded, but some things simply take more to convince me than others.

I recently acquired a book by one of anarcho-primitivism's main proponents, John Zerzan, entitled, Running on Emptiness: The Pathology of Civilization, and there are several other texts which I intend to read in order to get a better hold on my position, including: Against Civilization: Readings nad Reflections, also by John Zerzan, The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You by Leo Tolstoy, The Techonlogical Society and Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes both by Jacques Elul, The Gutenberg Galaxy by Marshall McLuhen, Men Against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism 1827-1908 by James J. Martin, Technological Slavery: The Collected Writings of Theodore J. Kaczynski, a.k.a. "The Unabomber" by Theodore John Kaczynski, and The One Man Revolution in America by Ammon Hennacy. I look forward to reading these texts and seeing where they lead me.

Now, as for where I currently stand... I believe in strongly critiquing civilization and I advocate minimalism and the simplifying of one's life as a means to both acquire individual liberty and to protest the inadequacies, wrong-doings, and falsehoods of "the system". I believe that the closer humanity can get to a harmonious connection with the whole of nature the closer humanity will get to a connection with its own nature and purpose. I believe that in order to reach this point one must not be "anti" anything, but rather must advocate a position based on something more concrete than merely being against something, such as technology or civilization. Basically, using the mindset of "simplified living" one should eliminate what is deemed unnecessary and do what is necessary to live in harmony with the whole of nature—which includes humanity and its nature—and seek to revere and sustain that relationship.

I believe this simplification and critique can be obtained by eliminating the purchasing of products which are both unnecessary and manufactured using specialization and division of labor, purchasing and using only secondhand or "used" products when necessary and possible, the studying of wilderness skills, learning plant identification, studying botanical medicine using local plants, learning to forage, acquiring gardening and farming skills, learning to fish, hunt, and trap, shopping at local farm markets, minimizing one's possessions, and otherwise trying to do as many things as possible which minimize one's dependence on "the system" while promoting all-around harmony – this is where I currently stand.

I would probably not be considered an anarcho-primitivist by most anarcho-primitivists at this time, although they might agree I have some leanings. In fact, at this time I would probably consider myself an environmentally conscious individualist anarchist who is also a minimalist and neopagan. However, if you are interested in anarcho-primitivism you may find the following links useful:

A Primitivist Primer

Primitivism

Understanding Anarcho-primitivism

Green Anarchism/Anarcho-primitivism

Wild Roots Feral Futures

For further information..."web search" is your friend.

Peace,
Alraune

Book Review for Vanabode®: Travel and Live Forever on $20 a Day by Jason Odom

I give Jason Odom's book Vanabode®: Travel and Live Forever on $20 a Day, 2^nd edition (Charleston, SC: 2011) a sorely disappointing 3 stars.

A few weeks ago I was browsing around Amazon for valuable information on the things which interest me, such as living free, vagabonding, minimalism, philosophy, and the entire range of topics I enjoy. During my browsing experience Amazon's “Other Customers Who View Buy” box showed me an image of the book Vanabode®: Travel and Live Forever on $20 a Day by Jason Odom (ISBN 978-1466423084), so with such a great title I naturally and eagerly clicked away to have a look at it. The reviews seemed good, the book sounded like it had the sort of information I was looking for, and the price (at the time) seemed reasonable, so I clicked the purchase button and left the rest to the United States Postal Service.

When the book arrived it looked clean, made well, printed on decent paper, and such, but once I opened it and flipped through the pages my suspicions immediately began to grow that I had wasted my hard earned cash. First, I realized that the layout was absolutely horrible. What made me think that, you ask? The Table of Contents was a sloppy run-together mess that looked like it was lifted straight off a web page, and on the next page (pg 3) I could already see two web addresses thrown into the text (they are everywhere)! Indeed, it seemed quite clear that very little effort had gone into formatting this text for the printed edition and that the author had written the original text with an electronic edition in mind. I began to feel that this book was definitely not worth the nearly twenty-five dollars I paid for it (I paid $23.08 plus $1.38 sales tax).

Now, I can relate to some of the philosophical statements the author Jason Odom makes, particularly his beliefs concerning the total cost of ownership and the “duped customer”, so I have to simply and honestly state that I, personally, do not believe his book is worth the 3 hours and 17 minutes an individual making the federal minimum wage of $7.25 would have to work to pay for his book; that is, at least the printed version which I purchased from Amazon.com. My personal measuring rod for the value of a thing is how long one would have to work at federal minimum wage in the most crappy job I can possibly think of in order to acquire that thing. My apologies to the author, but I was personally disappointed in the bang I got for the buck. Have you ever spent 3 hours wiping crap off the bathroom stall walls at your local Walmart? Neither have I, but you can bet somebody has, and if they would have purchased this text I can be reasonably certain (having known people who did such for a living) that they would not have found the information in this book worth more than 1 hour (if that) of their personal retail purgatory. Harsh, you say? Maybe.

The entire text is one hundred eleven pages in length with short chapters ranging from the Vanabode® philosophy, through living essentials, to inventory, and even spirituality. The copy I received (ISBN 978-1466423084) was printed in the USA in Charleston, South Carolina, which to me is a huge plus! I just wish the layout would have been done more professionally.

The author, Jason Odom, has real potential. Had he put just a little more work into the text I would have given it 5 stars, but it is lacking critical NEED TO KNOW information such as auto repair and maintenance, solid information on the legal ramifications of gun ownership and possession in vehicles (the author says he carries his firearm with him, loaded, but neglects to mention how he does this legally or even if it is legal in the states and federally owned areas he visits – I happen to know a little about gun rights and firearm ownership so I find his chapter on Safety, Weapons, and Security extremely lacking and potentially misleading), and other fine or critical points.

How on earth could anyone expect to be prepared for van dwelling if they are lacking critical NEED TO KNOW information on basic auto repair and maintenance or at least a few good pointers and where to go and what to do for the rest? The book doesn't even mention saving for such things! He could have at least had one chapter on routine auto maintenance and recommended potential vanaboders purchase a Hanes or Chilton auto manual along with the inclusion of some basic tools in his inventory section. The lack of such material really makes me question the knowledge of the author. I know the idea is to keep it simple, but if you are depending on the vehicle as your home shouldn't basic auto repair and routine auto maintenance at least be mentioned somewhere?

Otherwise, what the book does have to offer is worth paying for (just not $25) and some of the author's thoughts and advice are most certainly food-for-thought. I especially appreciated his reasoning on “why” van dwelling is superior to other alternatives and even stationary housing, and I found some of the information he shared on actually living the Vanabode® life truly useful. His chapter on, and seeming obsession with Sex was a little creepy, but hey, I'm a guy, so I get it – we all want to know we can still “get some” if we choose the Vanabode® life.

I also think the author, Jason Odom, could have included a bibliography, references (especially for his financial advice), or at least a list of suggested publications for the potential vanaboder to read. As someone who is interested in the nomadic life, van dwelling, and vagabonding, I know that good lists of authors and individuals who provide information on this sort of material are really hard to come by. It would have been nice if the book would have left the reader with some “leads” for more information (one of the measurements of a good book, I say). On the positive side, the author did mention two figures everyone interested in vagabonding or simple living should familiarize themselves with: Ed Buryn and Suelo.

Also, the author repeats the same thing which was previously stated in the book (almost verbatum) in several places, so much so that it is obvious and makes one think the author was being lazy and trying to “fill space” (something I know, as an author, that authors sometimes do, particularly when they are being lazy). It really is a shame because I really do think Jason Odom has the potential to be a decent author and his book has some real potential to be something much more than just a way for him to make a few extra bucks and spread a little information.

Finally, the premise that one can travel and live FOREVER (as the title of the book says) on $20 a day is a bit of a stretch. First, $20 a day is an awful lot of money - $7300 a year, or slightly more than half of a full-time minimum wage earner's gross annual salary (to put it in perspective). If that cost could be cut in half the premise of FOREVER would seem a little more realistic to the less fortunate, and if it could be reduced to $5 a day it would be a life I would think anyone could conceivably attain. That said, I would think such a cost reduction could be met, but not while doing as much traveling and recreational hobnobbing as the author suggests.

All in all I find the book Vanabode®: Travel and Live Forever on $20 a Day by Jason Odom to be a book useful in some respects and useless or incomplete in other respects. I give the book 3 stars and recommend it be purchased for one reason and one reason only – because there is simply a lack of information in book form which covers this topic, and this is one of the few books which attempts to do so. Hopefully Mr. Odom will do a much better job on an updated edition or with his next book. In the meantime I recommend purchasing the electronic edition so you get your money's worth for what you pay for.

Also consider simply doing some online research if van dwelling is your cup-of-tea. Yahoo! has an excellent group on van dwelling that may be of use.

Peace.

Alraune