Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ted Kaczynski has died

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

451–460 of 823 posts

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#451

Post by tyingq »

tyingq wrote: post #364
boppo1 wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did they allow much of his writing out of the prison? Who holds the rights to something written in prison in the US?

There's not a universal country-wide law in the US. Some states have "Son of Sam" laws that keep prisoners from profiting from publicity about their crimes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Sam_law Though with Ted, he probably had things other than his crimes he could have published and made money from. Of course, any earnings could end up going to a civil suit or existing orders of victim restitution. None of th…

Just noticed that the forward for one of his books (mentioned in a peer comment) has an example of what I described above in Kaczynski's words...

"I simply have not had the time to organize, rewrite, and complete the contents of this book. The principal reason why I have not had time is that agencies of the United States government have created unnecessary legal difficulties for me. To mention only the most important of these difficulties, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California has formally proposed to round up and confiscate the original and every copy of everything I have ever written and turn over all such papers to my alleged "victims" through a fictitious sale that will allow the "victims" to acquire all of the papers without having to pay anything for them. Under this plan, the government would even confiscate papers that I have given to libraries, including papers that have been on library shelves for several years..." [1]

[1] https://ia800300.us.archive.org/21/items/tk-Technological-Sl...

I don't know how that turned out, though. He does mention his lawyers were fighting the plan. Also interesting that he keeps putting the word victims in quotes, in a book published in 2008.

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#452

Post by Vecr »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #256
piaste wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP literally asked to "attack the ideas, not the man", and here you go attacking the ideas solely because of the kind of men who share it... What do you mean by " it reads like something /pol/ or reddit would write "? Does Kaczynsky use tired cartoon memes? Does he accuse the left of insufficient weightlifting? Does he challenge them to a 1v1 in a Nintendo fighting game? What part of his criticism do you actually…

Lol had not heard this one. The left has "insufficient weightlifting". Might be true. Could it be that on the left there are more endurance sports, for health. And on the right there are more muscle building sports, so they can strike cool poses with their guns?

It's pretty common. Don't be surprised if you get called a dyel (DYEL, Do You Even Lift) lanklet (small, not fat or muscular) runcell (someone who runs to try to get women, but would be better off lifting).

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#453

Post by [deleted] »

msla wrote: post #447
californiadreem wrote: post #32

Anyone who disagrees with Kaczynski's ideas because they came from a convicted terrorist should read the works of Jacques Ellul instead, of which Kaczynski's was largely a popular reduction. The Technological Society is the clearest influence on Kaczynski's manifesto, but Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes is possibly more pertinent in this day and age. Ellul was a professor, a pacifist, and a Christian ana…

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#455

Post by dennis_jeeves1 »

notacoward wrote: post #353
waihtis wrote: post #153

Kaczynski's entire opposition to technology seems to focus purely on amplifying the negative aspects of technological advancement. But after reading David Deutsch, I cannot but think all and any technological advancement is desirable and there's little merit to technological doomerism.

"Any and all"? It's not a particularly surprising attitude to find here, but I think it's a hard one to justify. Does ubiquitous surveillance technology not bother you at all, no matter how it's likely to be used? Are new methods of killing people always good? How about mind control? Not that we have it, but "any and all" would cover it. Is "doomerism" the only alternative you can think of to infinite optimism? That'…

People on this forum are generally the un-nuanced peasants of yesteryear who now have white collar jobs.

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#456

Post by Kye »

catiopatio wrote: post #445
happytoexplain wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems pretty un-generous. The parent is citing a real, straight-forward cause-and-effect which does not necessitate or even imply a zero-sum game, nor does it imply the extremist solution you're accusing them of supporting.

The zero-sum game and extremist solution are inherent in their position. As the parent says in their reply below: > My post was a call for being smarter about who we invest in.

"We can do better" is not a Hitlerian final solution. I'm calling for having taste, not building gulags.

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#457

Post by wizzwizz4 »

dylkil wrote: post #356
dbspin wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an ideological position, termed Capitalist Realism [1]. Given the failing of social reproduction, environmental protection, long term planning against existential and systemic risk, the mental health crisis and the collapse of civil and political life, under entrenched and victorious capitalism - an increasingly absurd one. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_Realism

>collapse of civil and political life civil and political life is terrible and still better than it has ever been

Depends who you are, and depends how long a timeframe you're averaging over.

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#458

Post by [deleted] »

catiopatio wrote: post #396
chasing wrote: post #371

On one hand, he murdered a bunch of people and ruined a huge number of lives. On the other hand, wrote a mildly interesting manifesto that only attracted any sort of attention because it was published by The Washington Post in a desperate bid to figure out who he was so we could get him to stop murdering people. (Which worked, by the way.) So, y'know. Evens right out... Interested in his ideas? Read better manifestos…

None of what you said has any bearing on the intellectual validity of his manifesto. There’s nothing to “even out” — we can and do separate the work from the author. I found some degree of edification in reading his manifesto, and I see no justification for your attempt to dissuade others from reading it.

[deleted]

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#459

Post by medellin »

williamcotton wrote: post #440
HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that makes it acceptable to execute a random executive from the firm?

[flagged]

Yes… its the bible quote not justifying the execution of a person.

It’s beyond amazing to me how dense some people are.

Re: Ted Kaczynski has died

#460

Post by onethought »

williamcotton wrote: post #440
HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that makes it acceptable to execute a random executive from the firm?

[flagged]

They could be for the pro extra-judicial killing position you are presenting.

There is sorrow in the world in almost every walk/product/political position. If you can’t recognise your culpability, then we are all doomed to be righteously murdered according to you. No one can sanely support that position. It’s irrational and borderline crazy.

Post reply on HN