
Steve Jobs, the Unabomber, and America's love/hate relationship with technology - johndcook
http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/11/steve-jobs-ted-kaczynski.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+oreilly%2Fradar%2Fatom+%28O%27Reilly+Radar%29
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jonmc12
I though to myself, is Kaczynski really the poster-child of the view-point
that technology can harm civilization? Surely there are thinkers in this area
that did not blow up people.

In researching, I found that the Kaczynski was quoted by Kurzweil in The Age
of Spiritual Machines, and then re-quoted by Bill Joy in this article -
<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy_pr.html> \- interesting..

Are there more authoritative bodies of work in the realm of this point of
view? It seems like a very important view for civilization to reconcile -
without being flavored by the legacy of a serial killer.

~~~
gnosis
Kaczynski was partially inspired by, and corresponded with, Jacques Ellul[1].
Heidegger[2] is another relatively well known critic of technology.[3] There
are many other philosophers who've criticized science and technology. If you
are interested, you might want to read about the philosophy of science[4], the
field of technoscience[5], and science studies[6].

[1] - <https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Jacques_Ellul>

[2] -
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Martin_Heideg...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Martin_Heidegger)

[3] -
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Question_...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Question_Concerning_Technology)

[4] -
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Philosophy_of...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Philosophy_of_science)

[6] -
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Science_studi...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Science_studies)

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AznHisoka
I think the the dislike of technology is just the surface of the Unabomber's
views. His more interesting view is that our world is incongruent with the
environment we evolved to thrive in, which causes mental illnesses and
insanity, and the general discontent we all feel. Technology is just 1 of many
of those incongruencies. If you read his Manifesto, there's actually a lot of
things that make sense, it's just that his ways of trying to instill change
was kind of lame and ineffective.

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fennecfoxen
A good part of the "hate" in America's love/hate affair with technology dates
back to the horrors of World War II and the subsequent threat of imminent
nuclear destruction.

Things just haven't been the same since the collapse of the USSR. Anyone born
after ~1980 or so is not going to be able to relate with the mindset preceding
this.

~~~
invalidOrTaken
Perhaps not from the same angle, but I think we (1986 here) might be better
able to relate than you realize, particularly to Thomas Jefferson's quote
about the moral effects of dependence on manufacture. OWS is made of people
with nothing to give back to the manufacturers.

But you're right that I've never worried about being nuked.

~~~
bdunbar
_But you're right that I've never worried about being nuked._

It's really a weird way to live. I grew up with this idea that everything
could just be gone just like that: family, hearth, civilization.

Things became odder, personally, when I joined the Marines. Suddenly it looked
like being in the military gave one a better chance of surviving World War III
than staying on the home front.

Assuming one wasn't at an SAC base, or stationed near a target.

Then one day ... the threat just vanished. Very odd.

 _Thomas Jefferson's quote about the moral effects of dependence on
manufacture._

On the other hand we can't all be farmers. And life on a farm back in those
days wasn't idyllic just .. necessary.

For all of Jefferson's love affair with the yeoman farmer, he himself wasn't
one, wouldn't have been able to think his grand thoughts, read his books if he
had to spend 15 hours a day behind a plow.

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clammamsham
It is shocking that the article left out Kaczynski's role in the CIA's MKULTRA
at Harvard.

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jackfoxy
Kaczynski was arguably in part created by the worst aspects of the academia he
attacked. It's worth reposting <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3234014>
which was posted on HN some time ago.

~~~
cobrausn
I believe your link is broken - it just leads to this page.

~~~
jackfoxy
doh! The real link
[http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2000/06/chase.ht...](http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2000/06/chase.htm)

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ctdonath
Sad thing is Kaczynski is still with us, while Jobs is not.

