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“Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

roelpeters.be

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Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#41

Post by valvar »

datenhorst wrote: post #6
roelp_be wrote: post #2

I was intrigued by "Industrial Society and its Future" by Ted Kaczynski after watching the "Manhunt" series on Netflix. As a techno-optimist it helped me put my feet on the ground. If you're like me, I can recommend the book. Not a fan of books? Read my blog post.

By "book", I assume you mean the 38-page manifesto or is there additional literature? I also read the manifesto after watching manhunt and its concepts deeply resonated with me. And to think how much deeper technology is ingrained into our society today compared to when he wrote it.

The interesting stuff is in his book 'Technological Slavery'. The manifesto is not necessary to read imo.

Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#42

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

PuffinBlue wrote: post #15

I did. And wrote about it[0]. And I'm not a techno-optimist but you won't find much to truly learn in the manifesto if you are one. The manifesto is far more about 'control' than it is about technology. He spreads the blame to the Left, the Over-Socialized, the 'Elite' and technology - with thinly veiled stopover at the 'stupid' too. And by 'control' he doesn't simply mean control through technology, it's about Kaczy…

to understand Kaczinsky is impossible without reading Jacques Ellul. His time in the woods doesn't make sense, his anger doesn't make sense, his slow (yes slow) self-radicalization and his terrorism doesn't make sense. Reading the Manifesto alone is what leads to terrible one sided takes like the Netflix documentary with its good-cop-bad-criminal narrative. if all one wants to do is confirm their position why he should be in jail (and he should) than the Manifesto is enough, but to understand the man you got to read what actually radicalized him. Read Ellul!

Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#43

Post by brnt »

caymanjim wrote: post #38
brnt wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was a good idea to preface the blogpost with an explanation, but it is hard for me to continue after unsupported statements like "Theodore J. Kaczynski is an extremely intelligent yet wounded man." I guess some evidence may be included elsewhere in the post, but just dropping a sentence like that feels very similar to 4chan-like edginess.

What kind of support do you need? It's a simple statement. He was an off-the-charts genius, with a PhD in math, a university professor, his thesis is still cited. Clearly he's emotionally damaged. You don't have to agree with him or like him, and I'm certainly not endorsing him, but there's no denying he was intelligent.

Well, I don't know any of those things. Post could've just said that.

Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#44

Post by rorykoehler »

My main takeaway from the Unabomber Manifesto is that to give up is to fail. We only have one valid way out of this and that is using the tool set (technology) that got us into this mess to get us out of it. All other options will result in unthinkable suffering and destruction (given that we have to work with the constraint that we already have 7B+ people on the planet).

Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#46

Post by shadowgovt »

stared wrote: post #27

I was stuck by this passage from an interview ( https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ted-kaczynski-an-int... ): > In living close to nature, one discovers that happiness does not consist in maximizing pleasure. It consists in tranquility. Once you have enjoyed tranquility long enough, you acquire actually an aversion to the thought of any very strong pleasure—excessive pleasure would disrupt your tranquility. > Fi…

It's nice words, but a man who mails bombs to other people instead of just letting them exist apart from himself clearly hasn't achieved tranquility, regardless of what he would have other people believe.

Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#47

Post by zozbot234 »

daenz wrote: post #23

Some people here can't seem to separate ideas from the person who generates them, and that is sad. You can hate what a person did and still try to understand why they did it. That does not equate to support for them. It's this kind of closed-mindedness that is driving people apart all over the world.

> Some people here can't seem to separate ideas from the person who generates them

Would these writings be considered famous or even worthwhile if it wasn't for this person's actions? I think the answer is quite clear.

Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#48

Post by michaelt »

daenz wrote: post #20
jamesdhutton wrote: post #12

He murdered people to publicize his manifesto. I feel that if I were to read it, I would be encouraging others to kill to get their views known. So I won't be reading it, regardless of its merits.

Do you think you are doing your part to discourage future murderers from publishing manifestos? It's hard for me to follow the logic of how what you describe works.

If you pay attention to your pet every time it misbehaves, you wouldn't be surprised when it learns to misbehave whenever it wants your attention.

Some people fear the same applies to mad bombers and school shooters and terrorists: If misbehaving gets you in the news, makes you famous and gets books written about you...

Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#49

Post by uj8efdkjfdshf »

oezi wrote: post #34
dangerface wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you say im reductionist and then describe someone that based his life believes on a book, thats a fruit cake. He then decided to blow people up because they got too close with their fancy technology... a road, double fruit cake. What was his point beyond technology bad? The only thing you mention is that Jacques Ellul had the arguments and he was just a fruit cake, which was my argument.

Excuse me asking but what is a fruit cake when it comes to assessing a human and how does it pertain to assessing his book (however you judge it)?

It's an English idiom used to describe someone mentally deranged.

Re: “Industrial Society and its Future”: the writings of the Unabomber

#50

Post by arez »

jamesdhutton wrote: post #12

He murdered people to publicize his manifesto. I feel that if I were to read it, I would be encouraging others to kill to get their views known. So I won't be reading it, regardless of its merits.

you can buy "Mein Kampf" anytime if you want, I doubt you get anything useful out of it or become a mass murderer if you read it. If you ban books or thoughts or manifestos you end up being totalitarian you becoming the very thing you try to fight against
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