John Zerzan (born 1943) is an American anarchist and primitivist philosopher and author. His works critique civilization -- and not just capitalism and the state -- as inherently oppressive, and advocate drawing upon the ways of life of prehistoric humans as an inspiration for what a free society should look like. Some of his criticism has extended as far as challenging language, symbolic thought and the concept of time. His three major books are Elements of Refusal (1988), Future Primitive (1994) and Running on Emptiness (2002)