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Future Primitive Revisited
"Zerzan's writing is sharp, uncompromising, and tenacious." -- Derrick Jensen
"John Zerzan's importance does not only consist in his brilliant intelligence, his absolute clearness of analysis and his unequalled dialectical synthesis that clarifies even the most complicated questions, but also in the humanity that fills his thoughts of resistance. "Future Primitive Revisited" is one more precious gift for us all."--Enrico Manicardi, author of "Liberi dalla Civilta" ("Free from Civilization")
"Anyone who travels with his eyes open understands the sense of much of what you have written, and the longer I live the greater my contempt for the opportunists who run governments and dictate our lives with technology."--Paul Theroux
"Of course we should go primitive. This doesn't mean abandoning material needs, tools, or skills, but ending our obsession with such concerns. Declaring for community, our true origin: personal autonomy, trust, mutual support in pursuit of all the joys and troubles of life. Society was a trap--massive, demanding, impersonal and debilitating from day one. So hurry back to the community, friends, and welcome all the consequences of such an orientation. The reasons for fear and despair will only multiply if we remain in this brutal and dangerous state of civilization."--Blok 45 publishing, Belgrade
As our society is stricken with repeated technological disasters, and the apocalyptic problems that go with them, the "neo-primitivist" essays of John Zerzan seem more relevant than ever.
"Future Primitive," the core innovative essay of "Future Primitive Revisited," has been out of print for years. This new edition is updated with never-before-printed essays that speak to a youthful political movement and influential writers such as Derrick Jensen and Paul Theroux.
An active participant in the contemporary anarchist resurgence, John Zerzan has been an invited speaker at both radical and conventional events on several continents. His weekly "Anarchy Radio" broadcast streams live on KWVA radio.
"John Zerzan's importance does not only consist in his brilliant intelligence, his absolute clearness of analysis and his unequalled dialectical synthesis that clarifies even the most complicated questions, but also in the humanity that fills his thoughts of resistance. "Future Primitive Revisited" is one more precious gift for us all."--Enrico Manicardi, author of "Liberi dalla Civilta" ("Free from Civilization")
"Anyone who travels with his eyes open understands the sense of much of what you have written, and the longer I live the greater my contempt for the opportunists who run governments and dictate our lives with technology."--Paul Theroux
"Of course we should go primitive. This doesn't mean abandoning material needs, tools, or skills, but ending our obsession with such concerns. Declaring for community, our true origin: personal autonomy, trust, mutual support in pursuit of all the joys and troubles of life. Society was a trap--massive, demanding, impersonal and debilitating from day one. So hurry back to the community, friends, and welcome all the consequences of such an orientation. The reasons for fear and despair will only multiply if we remain in this brutal and dangerous state of civilization."--Blok 45 publishing, Belgrade
As our society is stricken with repeated technological disasters, and the apocalyptic problems that go with them, the "neo-primitivist" essays of John Zerzan seem more relevant than ever.
"Future Primitive," the core innovative essay of "Future Primitive Revisited," has been out of print for years. This new edition is updated with never-before-printed essays that speak to a youthful political movement and influential writers such as Derrick Jensen and Paul Theroux.
An active participant in the contemporary anarchist resurgence, John Zerzan has been an invited speaker at both radical and conventional events on several continents. His weekly "Anarchy Radio" broadcast streams live on KWVA radio.
234 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1994
25 people are currently reading
1023 people want to read
About the author
John Zerzan
52 books186 followersAmerican anarchist and primitivist philosopher and author.
His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocate drawing upon the ways of life of hunter gatherers as an inspiration for what a free society should look like.
Some subjects of his criticism include domestication, language, symbolic thought (such as mathematics and art) and the concept of time.
His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocate drawing upon the ways of life of hunter gatherers as an inspiration for what a free society should look like.
Some subjects of his criticism include domestication, language, symbolic thought (such as mathematics and art) and the concept of time.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 14, 2020
Zerzan has got good ideas, but not a very captivating manner of presenting them. Most of the stuff he says here was said more elegantly or with better supporting data by Derrick Jensen, Pierre Clastres, Marshal Sahlins, and even guys like Edward Abbey and Aldo Leopold.
Either way, we are treated to the now-predictable argument that progress and civilization are corrupting our human spirit (actually, a short essay on "Technology" at the end of the book is one of the highlights as he briefly discusses the insidious harm that the inevitable march of computers and robotics perpetrates). What is unfortunately missing is any sort of solution.
Perhaps the most interesting essay, "Tonality and Totality" is little more than an indulgent aside, where Zerzan discusses the subtle control that all Western music exerts over us. According to him, the major/minor key dichotomy with its eight notes actually conditions our brains to accept our culture's paradigm of domination and subjugation. Just as minor or atonal notes must be subjugated to the majors for the sake of the melody, just as every "off-note" must resolve itself toward the harmony or key, we must sacrifice our individual autonomy for the sake of society. Whether or not you agree, this is probably the most provocative position Zerzan endorses in the entire book.
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
Either way, we are treated to the now-predictable argument that progress and civilization are corrupting our human spirit (actually, a short essay on "Technology" at the end of the book is one of the highlights as he briefly discusses the insidious harm that the inevitable march of computers and robotics perpetrates). What is unfortunately missing is any sort of solution.
Perhaps the most interesting essay, "Tonality and Totality" is little more than an indulgent aside, where Zerzan discusses the subtle control that all Western music exerts over us. According to him, the major/minor key dichotomy with its eight notes actually conditions our brains to accept our culture's paradigm of domination and subjugation. Just as minor or atonal notes must be subjugated to the majors for the sake of the melody, just as every "off-note" must resolve itself toward the harmony or key, we must sacrifice our individual autonomy for the sake of society. Whether or not you agree, this is probably the most provocative position Zerzan endorses in the entire book.
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
March 24, 2019
Kitabın adı her ne kadar “Gelecekteki İlkel” olsa da aslında “geçmişteki ilkel”e odaklanıyor.
Bütün psikolojik hastalıkların temelini ve mutsuzluğu yabancılaşmaya bağlayan yazar, yabancılaşmanın da tarımla beraber başladığını öne sürüyor.
Tarımdan sonra ortaya çıkan; matematiği, saati, yazıyı, sanatı, bilimi birer yapay tahakküm aracı olarak görüyor.
Yazara göre, tarımla beraber insan doğayı, diğer hayvanları özellikle de kendini denetim altına alıyor. Hayvanların evcilleşmesinden önce, insanın kendini evcilleştirdiğini öne sürüyor.
Başta da belirttiğim gibi, kitap gelecekten değil de geçmişten bahseden bir modern toplum eleştirisi.
Bütün psikolojik hastalıkların temelini ve mutsuzluğu yabancılaşmaya bağlayan yazar, yabancılaşmanın da tarımla beraber başladığını öne sürüyor.
Tarımdan sonra ortaya çıkan; matematiği, saati, yazıyı, sanatı, bilimi birer yapay tahakküm aracı olarak görüyor.
Yazara göre, tarımla beraber insan doğayı, diğer hayvanları özellikle de kendini denetim altına alıyor. Hayvanların evcilleşmesinden önce, insanın kendini evcilleştirdiğini öne sürüyor.
Başta da belirttiğim gibi, kitap gelecekten değil de geçmişten bahseden bir modern toplum eleştirisi.
May 27, 2020
The issue with reading anarchist literature is that they're laboring under the delusion that if their argument is sufficiently complex, they'll win hearts and minds. Thing is, your reader's heart and mind is already won, by virtue of their voluntarily choosing to read your impenetrable wall of jargon-heavy anarchist philosophical rhetoric.
It was engaging enough, for what it was, and brief. Future Primitive was the by now familiar call to abandon civilization and return to the shrub because the internet makes you stupid and alienated, which it absolutely does.
Hey. Hey, look at me. It does. It's making you worse, right now.
The Mass Psychology of Misery is Zerzan saying all therapists are cops, and ACAB. That might be an oversimplification, but someone had better. He says psychology as we know it and psychiatry in particular is a tool for trying to make people forget their misery, and the misery itself is brought on by the absurd, abnormal conditions of data overload and treadmill consumerism that are supposed to constitute modern life. In this way, shrinks are distractions, like drugs, both street and prescription, like Netflix, to make you forget that you're living directly counter to the nature you've been programmed for. He keeps trying to argue with Freud despite the fact that Freud essentially agrees that civilization took perfectly good monkeys and fucked 'em all up, hence the eponymous discontents. But Freud is on psych's side, for better or worse, and who better to champion tribalism than an advocate for a return to the tribe?
Tonality and the Totality was a screed in opposition of music that sounds good, as it sounds good for following a tonal pattern and the tonal pattern represents the interests of the elite. Or something adjacent to that. It sounded like a defense of bad punk music, but then he called out punk music right at the end for not being anarchist enough! There's just no pleasing some people.
The Catastrophe of Post-Modernism is right on the money in saying postmodernists are a bunch of sketchy chameleon dickheads who play irritating language and symbol games in an effort to avoid confronting the reality of human emotion. It wasn't hugely comprehensible, but you can't write about postmodernism and be comprehensible, so I don't hold that against him. He's fighting the good fight, if only with the sticks and stones of his preferred collective.
The bits and pieces from the Nihilist's Dictionary were a little too propagandistic for my tastes, but the effort, and any nod to Bierce, is always appreciated.
It was a good book, but the arguments felt kind of lateral, suggestive without directly suggesting anything. But then, if Zerzan was buds with Kaczynski, I guess that would make sense.
It was engaging enough, for what it was, and brief. Future Primitive was the by now familiar call to abandon civilization and return to the shrub because the internet makes you stupid and alienated, which it absolutely does.
Hey. Hey, look at me. It does. It's making you worse, right now.
The Mass Psychology of Misery is Zerzan saying all therapists are cops, and ACAB. That might be an oversimplification, but someone had better. He says psychology as we know it and psychiatry in particular is a tool for trying to make people forget their misery, and the misery itself is brought on by the absurd, abnormal conditions of data overload and treadmill consumerism that are supposed to constitute modern life. In this way, shrinks are distractions, like drugs, both street and prescription, like Netflix, to make you forget that you're living directly counter to the nature you've been programmed for. He keeps trying to argue with Freud despite the fact that Freud essentially agrees that civilization took perfectly good monkeys and fucked 'em all up, hence the eponymous discontents. But Freud is on psych's side, for better or worse, and who better to champion tribalism than an advocate for a return to the tribe?
Tonality and the Totality was a screed in opposition of music that sounds good, as it sounds good for following a tonal pattern and the tonal pattern represents the interests of the elite. Or something adjacent to that. It sounded like a defense of bad punk music, but then he called out punk music right at the end for not being anarchist enough! There's just no pleasing some people.
The Catastrophe of Post-Modernism is right on the money in saying postmodernists are a bunch of sketchy chameleon dickheads who play irritating language and symbol games in an effort to avoid confronting the reality of human emotion. It wasn't hugely comprehensible, but you can't write about postmodernism and be comprehensible, so I don't hold that against him. He's fighting the good fight, if only with the sticks and stones of his preferred collective.
The bits and pieces from the Nihilist's Dictionary were a little too propagandistic for my tastes, but the effort, and any nod to Bierce, is always appreciated.
It was a good book, but the arguments felt kind of lateral, suggestive without directly suggesting anything. But then, if Zerzan was buds with Kaczynski, I guess that would make sense.
December 27, 2015
Öncelikle belirtmem gerekir ki, çeviri çok güzel. Bu konuda Cemal Atila'yı tebrik etmek gerekir. Zerzan teorisini tamamen insanın doğadan kopuşuyla, bu nedenle de yabancılaşmasıyla açıklıyor. Zerzan'a göre; hayvanların evcilleştiğini söylerken, hiç insanın evcilleşmesinden bahsetmiyoruz, oysa bizler de evcilleşmiş mahluklarız.
Zerzan insanlığın felaketinin tarım devrimiyle başladığını belirtiyor. Avcı-toplayıcı toplumlarda mutluluk, bolluk, şiddetsizlik vs. gibi şuan özlemini çektiğimiz her şeyin var olduğunu iddaa eden Zerzan, bunu soyut bir kurgusallıkla değil, son yıllarda yapılan antropolojik çalışmalara dayandırarak ele alıyor.
Tarımla birlikte ortaya çıkan; sayı sistemi, kültür, din gibi kurumları da hedef tahtasına koyarak, bu kurumların ve icatların temelde birer tahakküm aracı olduğunu öne sürüyor.
Modernitenin yarattığı ilerlemecelik yanılsamasını da eleştirmekten geri kalmayarak; sonunda hiçbir şeye varmayan bir ilerlemecelik sevdası uğruna, yabancılaşma, şeyleşme gibi bedelleri de insanoğlunu ödemesini gereksiz ve mantıksız buluyor.
Zerzan insanlığın felaketinin tarım devrimiyle başladığını belirtiyor. Avcı-toplayıcı toplumlarda mutluluk, bolluk, şiddetsizlik vs. gibi şuan özlemini çektiğimiz her şeyin var olduğunu iddaa eden Zerzan, bunu soyut bir kurgusallıkla değil, son yıllarda yapılan antropolojik çalışmalara dayandırarak ele alıyor.
Tarımla birlikte ortaya çıkan; sayı sistemi, kültür, din gibi kurumları da hedef tahtasına koyarak, bu kurumların ve icatların temelde birer tahakküm aracı olduğunu öne sürüyor.
Modernitenin yarattığı ilerlemecelik yanılsamasını da eleştirmekten geri kalmayarak; sonunda hiçbir şeye varmayan bir ilerlemecelik sevdası uğruna, yabancılaşma, şeyleşme gibi bedelleri de insanoğlunu ödemesini gereksiz ve mantıksız buluyor.
October 25, 2018
5 yıl önce başlayıp hepsini bitirememiştim. Bu sene baştan başlayıp bitirdim. Bazı kısımları bana ağır gelmiş olsa da pek çok paragrafı beğenip işaretlerken buldum kendimi. Özellikle sondaki röportaj kısmı güzel bir özet mahiyetinde.
July 16, 2023
Nu är jag radikaliserad ;)
September 27, 2018
This guy befriended the Unabomber when he was on trial!
Agreed with the proposed ends, not the means.
ANYWAY.
Primitivism apparently would like to be considered a form of anarchism, but I really don't see how. From what I could glean, it's a rollback of symbolic language and technology to return to the garden. Anarchism to me has always meant voluntary associations which is akin to government, while this guy is talking about doing away with agriculture.
Maybe he covers it in other books, but very thin on details or even suggestions about how to go about achieving the rollback. There's no nod to keeping the good in modern society. Just using symbolic language to critique modern society and technology. Hard to argue with some of the critique, but equally hard to take him seriously.
He doesn't seem to have too many creative, productive ideas, rather he thrives cutting apart existing ideas and institutions. And I enjoyed his book reviews and rant essay against post-modernism. But what I would've loved to read is a wacky, creative take on how our/a society could rewild and remedy some of the things he rails against.
Agreed with the proposed ends, not the means.
ANYWAY.
Primitivism apparently would like to be considered a form of anarchism, but I really don't see how. From what I could glean, it's a rollback of symbolic language and technology to return to the garden. Anarchism to me has always meant voluntary associations which is akin to government, while this guy is talking about doing away with agriculture.
Maybe he covers it in other books, but very thin on details or even suggestions about how to go about achieving the rollback. There's no nod to keeping the good in modern society. Just using symbolic language to critique modern society and technology. Hard to argue with some of the critique, but equally hard to take him seriously.
He doesn't seem to have too many creative, productive ideas, rather he thrives cutting apart existing ideas and institutions. And I enjoyed his book reviews and rant essay against post-modernism. But what I would've loved to read is a wacky, creative take on how our/a society could rewild and remedy some of the things he rails against.
March 4, 2020
Batı toplumlarında toplumsal yaşam alanları günbegün hiper-yabancılaşmanın yeni zirvelerine erişmektedir. Sanayileşmiş ülkelerde baş gösteren ciddi ve yıkıcı bunalımın boyutları, her on yılda bir ikiye katlanmaktadır. ABD'de gençler arasındaki intihar oranı son otuz yıl içinde üç katına çıkarken, aynı dönemdeki sosyal ve siyasal katılım hızlı bir şekilde baş aşağı gitmiştir. Yalnızlık, anlamsızlık ve huzursuzluk duygulan giderek derinleşmekte, birbirinden çarpıcı cinayet serüvenleri olağan olaylar haline gelmekte ve bu olgular eskiden şiddetin pek yaygın olmadığı toplumlarda da artık karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Postmodernizmin derin sinikliği her yanı sarmakta ve toplumun hiçbir kurumu, göstermelik bir sadakatten başka bir işe yaramamaktadır. Bu toplumsal acılar listesini uzatmak elbette zor değil. (sf. 6-7)
August 14, 2013
I warm to Zerzan as a reader: he really hammers away at his texts and you can compile quite a reading list just by skimming one of the articles in this collection. I wonder if he ever reads anything light and entertaining...
November 4, 2008
Well worth your time, though you will not like most of it, will you?
May 19, 2025
we sure do live in a society, but should we?
October 4, 2021
The essence of primitivism: the naturalist fallacy and the causal fallacy + cherrypicking egalitarian non-agricultural societies.
If anything it is an ideology by and for despair.
If anything it is an ideology by and for despair.
November 22, 2014
The ideas which John Zerzan explores in this series of essays are interesting and with a little work they could even be compelling. However, without applying analytic rigor to these ideas and making a coherent case for them to the reader, Zerzan appears to be preaching to the choir instead of making the case for the values and sense of the world he appears to take as self-evident. A disappointing missed opportunity.
October 7, 2021
One of the best starting points in anprim literature: while being short and concise, this little essay (about 60 pages long) is still filled with a vast array of ideas and fundamentals of green anarchist philosophy.
Future Primitive (the original title) is an essay that delves into the misconceptions of primitive lives and puts them in perspective with all the problems of modern life, from socio-economical disparities, to illness and abuse.
Really good read for anyone.
Future Primitive (the original title) is an essay that delves into the misconceptions of primitive lives and puts them in perspective with all the problems of modern life, from socio-economical disparities, to illness and abuse.
Really good read for anyone.
Want to read
November 16, 2008Oh, this book is like the weirdest hippie-shit I've ever bought.
August 18, 2013
hayata hiç bu açıdan bakmamıştım. yeni bir yol açmayı sağlayacak bir kitap.
April 10, 2025
“Future Primitive” has become a must-read personal recommendation.
I believe it helps put into perspective how far we've drifted from our nature and the inevitable suffering brought about by civilization. For over two million years (and until relatively recently, about 12,000 years ago) humans lived as hunter-gatherers. With the advent of agriculture, that reality changed drastically, adding layers of complexity between humans and their own nature. And with greater complexity seems to come deeper existential dissatisfaction, to the point where social isolation and mental illness have become part of the everyday norm. This book highlights how this epidemic isn’t merely an individual pathology, but rather a consequence of the burdens of civilization itself.
Some anarcho-primitivists go even further than what’s described in the book, often claiming that early humans enjoyed short workdays and abundant leisure (despite leisure being a modern invention). There’s little to no evidence supporting these claims; in fact, most evidence points in the opposite direction. That’s why, within the broader discourse of this type of anarchism, I find Zerzan’s perspective more mature and grounded.
On another note, the book’s critique of postmodernism goes beyond epistemological debates, addressing the real-world consequences of this worldview and how it represents the final stage in humanity’s disconnection from nature.
There are certain points on which I disagree with the author. For example, his assertion that there was no basic division of labor based on sex feels oversimplified. However, it might be more accurate to say that roles were assigned according to physical capacity; the injured and elderly also played specific roles, suited to their abilities. I also felt that the chapter on music, while fascinating, contributed little to the book’s central thesis.
Like Chomsky, I share the view that returning to a pre-civilized way of life is nearly impossible; it would mean the death of billions. We’ve undergone our own form of domestication, and with it, we’ve lost the basic traits necessary to survive in a truly primitive state. Reversing that would require a total collapse involving the disappearance of most of the global population. From the perspective of modern humanity (including myself), that’s not a justifiable means to any end. Although Zerzan interprets fear of death as a symptom of a hollow, incomplete life, one cannot simply cast off the limitations of the modern individual and commit such an atrocity. I suspect the author might agree on this point.
Lastly, although not the book’s main focus, its portrayal of hunter-gatherer societies feels somewhat partial and idealized. Violence and cruelty are also part of human moral nature. That doesn’t invalidate the author’s arguments, but I do think it’s a nuance worth acknowledging.
All in all, the book delivers a powerful reality check. It’s time we stop looking forward toward "progress" and start stepping back toward something more aligned with our nature. We need to abandon the belief that technological advancement will cure our ills. It is precisely technology and industrial society that lie at the root of our problems. Any shift in that perspective, no matter how small, is more than necessary.
I believe it helps put into perspective how far we've drifted from our nature and the inevitable suffering brought about by civilization. For over two million years (and until relatively recently, about 12,000 years ago) humans lived as hunter-gatherers. With the advent of agriculture, that reality changed drastically, adding layers of complexity between humans and their own nature. And with greater complexity seems to come deeper existential dissatisfaction, to the point where social isolation and mental illness have become part of the everyday norm. This book highlights how this epidemic isn’t merely an individual pathology, but rather a consequence of the burdens of civilization itself.
Some anarcho-primitivists go even further than what’s described in the book, often claiming that early humans enjoyed short workdays and abundant leisure (despite leisure being a modern invention). There’s little to no evidence supporting these claims; in fact, most evidence points in the opposite direction. That’s why, within the broader discourse of this type of anarchism, I find Zerzan’s perspective more mature and grounded.
On another note, the book’s critique of postmodernism goes beyond epistemological debates, addressing the real-world consequences of this worldview and how it represents the final stage in humanity’s disconnection from nature.
There are certain points on which I disagree with the author. For example, his assertion that there was no basic division of labor based on sex feels oversimplified. However, it might be more accurate to say that roles were assigned according to physical capacity; the injured and elderly also played specific roles, suited to their abilities. I also felt that the chapter on music, while fascinating, contributed little to the book’s central thesis.
Like Chomsky, I share the view that returning to a pre-civilized way of life is nearly impossible; it would mean the death of billions. We’ve undergone our own form of domestication, and with it, we’ve lost the basic traits necessary to survive in a truly primitive state. Reversing that would require a total collapse involving the disappearance of most of the global population. From the perspective of modern humanity (including myself), that’s not a justifiable means to any end. Although Zerzan interprets fear of death as a symptom of a hollow, incomplete life, one cannot simply cast off the limitations of the modern individual and commit such an atrocity. I suspect the author might agree on this point.
Lastly, although not the book’s main focus, its portrayal of hunter-gatherer societies feels somewhat partial and idealized. Violence and cruelty are also part of human moral nature. That doesn’t invalidate the author’s arguments, but I do think it’s a nuance worth acknowledging.
All in all, the book delivers a powerful reality check. It’s time we stop looking forward toward "progress" and start stepping back toward something more aligned with our nature. We need to abandon the belief that technological advancement will cure our ills. It is precisely technology and industrial society that lie at the root of our problems. Any shift in that perspective, no matter how small, is more than necessary.
September 10, 2024
This isn't the best work by John Zerzan that I've read (but still, a good read!), but this collection of essays is sufficient to grasp the anti-civilization proposal he advocates. It doesn't have as strong arguments as previous proto-anarcho-primitivist thinkers like Camatte or Clastres. In this collection, Zerzan is too preoccupied with the implications of postmodernism, which, in practice, doesn't contribute much to the context of human organization. What I liked here is Zerzan's summary and analysis of issues that are often considered trivial but, when examined deeply, intersect significantly with the advocacy of ideas to return to prehistoric times. For example, when Zerzan discusses complexity and silence from the perspective of opposing forces, which actually represent modern society. The modern world, the tech-military complex, and progress indeed provide a lot of efficiency solely for humanity's needs as a species, to achieve ever greater speed and perfect the process of its evolution—something Zerzan could have explored more had he reduced a few pages discussing postmodernism and structuralism at a surface level. In Future Primitive, his analysis of paleoanthropological and archaeological findings is far more compelling than his complaints about the modern world.
Read
October 4, 2020“Sadece açlıkla ölçülen ve uykunun çökmesiyle sona eren bir yaz gününün nasıl sonsuz bir şekilde uzun olduğunu denemeden anlayamazsınız.”
“Heralde uygarlığın unuttuğu şey tam da bu olsa gerek; yani, başkalarının deneyimlerinin bizim deneyimlerimiz olmadığı ve bu yüzden uygarlaştırma sürecinin temsili olarak yaşanan yapay bir süreç olduğu gerçeği.”
“Eğer zevk bir şekilde her türlü kısıtlamadan sıyrılsaydı, ortaya çıkacak sonuç sanatın antitezi olurdu.”
“Yabancılaşmayla, saat başına ücret ödenerek kurulan bir ilişkiyle baş etmeye çalışmak, yukarda sıralanan nitelikler bağlamında bir terapist ile bir fahişenin arasındaki benzerliği göz ardı etmekten başka bir şey değildir.”
“Gerçek hayatın, alçaltıcı bir iş yaşamı, tüketiciliğin kof döngüsü ve yüksek teknoloji bağımlılığının dolaylandırılmış hiçliği tarafından çürütüldüğü bir yokluk içinde yaşıyoruz.”
“Anarşizm yalnızca tahakkümden kurtulma arzusunu değil, aynı zamanda başkalarını tahakküm altına almama arzusunu da içermektedir.”
“Heralde uygarlığın unuttuğu şey tam da bu olsa gerek; yani, başkalarının deneyimlerinin bizim deneyimlerimiz olmadığı ve bu yüzden uygarlaştırma sürecinin temsili olarak yaşanan yapay bir süreç olduğu gerçeği.”
“Eğer zevk bir şekilde her türlü kısıtlamadan sıyrılsaydı, ortaya çıkacak sonuç sanatın antitezi olurdu.”
“Yabancılaşmayla, saat başına ücret ödenerek kurulan bir ilişkiyle baş etmeye çalışmak, yukarda sıralanan nitelikler bağlamında bir terapist ile bir fahişenin arasındaki benzerliği göz ardı etmekten başka bir şey değildir.”
“Gerçek hayatın, alçaltıcı bir iş yaşamı, tüketiciliğin kof döngüsü ve yüksek teknoloji bağımlılığının dolaylandırılmış hiçliği tarafından çürütüldüğü bir yokluk içinde yaşıyoruz.”
“Anarşizm yalnızca tahakkümden kurtulma arzusunu değil, aynı zamanda başkalarını tahakküm altına almama arzusunu da içermektedir.”
April 23, 2025
l'apice dell'alienazione? Il pensiero simbolico. Il pensiero più occulto alla base di questo? La categoria del tempo. Una riscoperta rivoluzionaria del senso della vita, portato con prove antropologiche e archeologiche del passato dell'essere umano, che si è condannato con l'inizio dell'agricoltura e la divisione del lavoro. Per me ormai non c'è più nulla da salvare della vita odierna, c'è solo l'imperativo di una chiusura definitiva e senza rimpianti nostalgici del futuro
March 30, 2022
3,5/5
Çağdaş uygarlık eleştirisini inşa ettiği bağlama gönülden katılmakla birlikte çok sayıda antropolojik çalışmanın 'yorumuna' dayandırdığı tarım-öcesi toplum tahayyülünü fazla naif ve uçarı buldum.
Öte yandan kitabın son bölümündeki röportaj Zerzan'ın derdini anlatan daha derli toplu bir izlenim sunuyor.
Çağdaş uygarlık eleştirisini inşa ettiği bağlama gönülden katılmakla birlikte çok sayıda antropolojik çalışmanın 'yorumuna' dayandırdığı tarım-öcesi toplum tahayyülünü fazla naif ve uçarı buldum.
Öte yandan kitabın son bölümündeki röportaj Zerzan'ın derdini anlatan daha derli toplu bir izlenim sunuyor.
July 7, 2020
don’t read zerzan for argument or insight; read him for the unexpected, occasional shock outside received wisdom; or just read him to laugh at his noble savage bs and his whackass critiques of modern societies
April 21, 2025
Tengo grandes recuerdos de este libro. Se trata de una apología de lo primitivo como única forma de encontrar la libertad. En concreto la vida de los cazadores recolectores es interpretada como ideal.
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May 2, 2020Tá, e aí?
August 30, 2021
“Bir bütün olarak postmodernizm, moderniteyi dayanılır kılan umut ve düşlerin de ortadan kalktığı bir modernizmden başka bir şey değildir.”
July 8, 2025
What a fascinating argument Zerzan makes against agrarian society in this anthology. His demonstration of ritual as key in creating hierarchy and systems of power sticks with me.
December 20, 2021
Re-read, 12/2021: Zerzan’s strengths in analyzing civilization and its destructiveness lies in its broadness; almost no topic or area of human activity, from agriculture to art to philosophy, lies outside the bounds of his analysis. I enjoyed these essays much more the second time around, and the arguments Zerzan makes are more and more understandable the older I get.
Not quite as captivating as Running on Emptiness, but Zerzan still presents quite a bit of food for thought here.
Not quite as captivating as Running on Emptiness, but Zerzan still presents quite a bit of food for thought here.
January 14, 2015
i still make jokes about this book four years after having read it so it can't be too bad
July 24, 2011
I guess I don't find this guy as radical or extreme as others have. He has some good points which he has researched and supports adequately; everything else is a matter of perspective...
June 8, 2012
Same as the other reviews ... hit or miss on the essays. Some good ideas, and the update is timely, but nothing really new.
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