Editing Pessimism (section)

=== Technological and environmental ===
Technological pessimism is the belief that advances in science and technology do not lead to an improvement in the human condition. Technological pessimism can be said to have originated during the [[Industrial Revolution]] with the [[Luddite]] movement. Luddites blamed the rise of industrial mills and advanced factory machinery for the loss of their jobs and set out to destroy them. The [[Romantic movement]] was also pessimistic towards the rise of technology and longed for simpler and more natural times. Poets like [[William Wordsworth]] and [[William Blake]] believed that industrialization was polluting the purity of nature.<ref name="romanticism">{{cite web |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html |title=Romanticism |publisher=Wsu.edu |access-date=2010-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080718052334/http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html |archive-date=2008-07-18 }}</ref>

Some social critics and environmentalists believe that [[globalization]], [[Human overpopulation|overpopulation]] and the economic practices of modern [[capitalist]] states over-stress the planet's [[Balance of nature|ecological equilibrium]]. They warn that unless something is done to slow this, [[climate change]] will worsen eventually leading to some form of social and [[ecological collapse]].<ref>[[The New York Review of Books]] {{cite magazine| url = http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2006/apr/27/the-global-delusion/| title = The Global Delusion, John Gray| last1 = Gray| first1 = John}}</ref> [[James Lovelock]] believes that the [[ecology]] of the Earth has already been irretrievably damaged, and even an unrealistic shift in politics would not be enough to save it. According to Lovelock, the Earth's climate regulation system is being overwhelmed by pollution and the Earth will soon jump from its current state into a dramatically hotter climate.<ref name="nybooks.com">[[The New York Review of Books]] {{cite magazine| url = http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/nov/19/a-great-jump-to-disaster/| title = A Great Jump to Disaster?, Tim Flannery| last1 = Flannery| first1 = Tim}}</ref> Lovelock blames this state of affairs on what he calls "polyanthroponemia", which is when: "humans overpopulate until they do more harm than good." Lovelock states:

<blockquote>The presence of 7 billion people aiming for first-world comforts…is clearly incompatible with the homeostasis of climate but also with chemistry, biological diversity and the economy of the system.<ref name="nybooks.com" /></blockquote>

Some [[radical environmentalism|radical environmentalists]], [[anti-globalization]] activists, and [[Neo-luddism|Neo-luddites]] can be said to hold to this type of pessimism about the effects of modern "progress". A more radical form of environmental pessimism is [[anarcho-primitivism]] which faults the [[British Agricultural Revolution|agricultural revolution]] with giving rise to social stratification, coercion, and alienation. Some anarcho-primitivists promote [[deindustrialization]], abandonment of modern technology and [[rewilding (anarchism)|rewilding]].

An infamous anarcho-primitivist is [[Theodore Kaczynski]], also known as the Unabomber, who engaged in a nationwide mail bombing campaign. In his 1995 ''[[Industrial Society and Its Future|Unabomber Manifesto]]'', he called attention to the erosion of human freedom by the rise of the modern "industrial-technological system".<ref>[[The Washington Post]]: Unabomber Special Report: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.text.htm INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND ITS FUTURE]</ref> The manifesto begins thus: <blockquote>The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. They have greatly increased the life-expectancy of those of us who live in "advanced" countries, but they have destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have subjected human beings to indignities, have led to widespread psychological suffering (in the Third World to physical suffering as well) and have inflicted severe damage on the natural world. The continued development of technology will worsen the situation. It will certainly subject human beings to greater indignities and inflict greater damage on the natural world, it will probably lead to greater social disruption and psychological suffering, and it may lead to increased physical suffering even in "advanced" countries.</blockquote>

One of the most radical pessimist organizations is the [[voluntary human extinction movement]], which argues for the extinction of the human race through [[antinatalism]].

[[Pope Francis]]' controversial [[Laudato si'|2015 encyclical on ecological issues]] is rife with [[Laudato si'#Technology|pessimistic assessments of the role of technology in the modern world]].