Wednesday, November 13, 2013

"Individuals Tending Towards Savagery" -- attacks of the "anarcho-primitivists"

Ned Ludd.
Nanotechnology has incited the wrath of a sect of anarchists who see nature as the supreme good.
A chain of terrorist attacks has struck scientists in Mexico since 2011. Similar actions were taken in Switzerland in 2010 and in Italy in 2012. The Mexican attacks have been claimed by a group called Individuals Tending Towards Savagery (ITS). Their texts are littered with references to Theodore Kaczynski (the Unabomber) and expressions including "fire on nanotechnological development and on those that support it". Nanotechnology is portrayed as the cause of a future ecological catastrophe, generated by the self-replication of lethal nano-robots. . .
But where does the violence come from? The authors of the communiques are reportedly "anarcho-primitivists", a subculture that arose in the 1990s when anarchism crossed with radical environmentalism. It calls for overthrowing of industrial civilisation and a return to a primitive lifestyle. One of its references is writer Derrick Jensen, who called for "deep green resistance".
Also of interest to me at RealClearScience was this: "The Myth of Organic Agriculture."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like something out of The Cloud Walker. Nanotechnology has been suggested as a potential cure for illness, repairing damaged parts of the human body. I would be in favor of that. Any technology can be used for evil as well. The ITS folks sound like they are attacking something they do not really understand, for the sake of attacking something. Anarchy is by its nature anti- Constitution. If they become more active, a long range approach may be indicated.