Individualist Anarchist SF

[TylerDurden]

There used to be some book thread, but can't remember where it is. I just thought I ought to recommend some old SF I started rereading which sort of depict an ideal individualist anarchist future. I'm thinking specifically of "The Moon Moth" by Jack Vance, a brilliant short story as well as William Tenn's short story "Winthrop was stubborn". Jack Vance has also written other SF such as the Magnus Ridolph stories and William Tenn has also written other great stuff such as "Firewater" and "Time in Advance" and "Of Men and Monsters".

[TylerDurden]

I would also highly recommend Max Stirner's work "The Ego and Its Own". It can be a bit unreadable at times, and is not SF, of course, but Stirner  has a better reputation than Ayn Rand. It's the Individualist Anarchist Bible, so to speak.

[Brad462]

Fellow anarchist checking in...

I have never heard of Max before, thanks for the recommendation.  At the moment I am reading Statism and Anarchy by Bakunin.

[Brad462]

Doesn't your worship of science run contrary to the anarchist ideal?  In order to be free men we must reject all authority - including science.  Worship of science leads to dangerous forms of social engineering.  Knowledge or perceived knowledge always is used to gain power.

[TylerDurden]

Doesn't your worship of science run contrary to the anarchist ideal?  In order to be free men we must reject all authority - including science.  Worship of science leads to dangerous forms of social engineering.  Knowledge or perceived knowledge always is used to gain power.

Science can also be heavily anarchistic.