Theodore Kaczynski

Dr. Theodore John Kaczynski, Ph.D., also known as the Unabomber (born May 22, 1942) is a Polish-American terrorist who attempted to fight against what he perceived as the evils of technological progress by sending mail bombs to various people over almost eighteen years, killing three and wounding 29. He was the target of the FBI's most expensive manhunt ever.

Manifesto

In 1995, Kaczynski mailed several letters, some to his former victims, outlining his goals and demanding that his 35,000-word paper ' (commonly called the "Unabomber Manifesto") be printed verbatim by a major newspaper; he stated that he would then end his bombing campaign. There was a great deal of controversy over whether it should be done. A further letter threatening to kill more people was sent, and the Justice department recommended publication out of concern for public safety. Eventually, the pamphlet was indeed published by the New York Times and the Washington Post on September 19 1995, with the hope that somebody would recognize his writing style (as indeed happened; see below).

Related Topics:
New York Times - Washington Post - September 19 - 1995

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The main argument of Industrial Society and Its Future is that technological progress is undesirable, can be stopped, and in fact should be stopped in order to free people from the unnatural demands of technology, so that they can return to a happier, simpler life close to nature. Kaczynski argued that it was necessary to cause a "social crash", before society became any worse. He believes a collapse of civilization is likely to occur at some point in the future; thus, it is better to end things now, rather than later, because the further society develops, the more painful things will be when the collapse occurs. If it does not occur, he says, humans will have the freedom and significance of house pets, although they may be happy, in a society dominated by machines or an elite social class.

Related Topics:
Social crash - Civilization

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Its critique of technological society makes the manifesto a Neo-Luddism tract, sharing some ideas with other contemporary anti-technological writers such as John Zerzan, Fredy Perlman, Jacques Ellul, Lewis Mumford and Derrick Jensen (though its scope is broad, as Kaczynski also devoted large sections to criticizing "leftists" and "oversocialized types"). Despite the association, the manifesto has been discussed seriously. Bill Joy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, quoted it in his April 2000 Wired magazine article on the dangers of technology, "Why The Future Doesn't Need Us", as an example of dystopian concerns that deserved a response. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html Selective quotation from the manifesto has been used to attack more mainstream environmentalists by painting them as similar to Kaczynski, as in 1999 when a widely publicized Web page http://web.archive.org/web/20041103092934/ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ken_crossman/Gore.htm compared statements by Kaczynski with Al Gore's book Earth in the Balance, pointing out ostensible similarities between statements in the two works.

Related Topics:
Neo-Luddism - John Zerzan - Fredy Perlman - Jacques Ellul - Lewis Mumford - Derrick Jensen - Leftists - Oversocialized - Bill Joy - Sun Microsystems - April - 2000 - Wired - Dystopia - Environmentalists - 1999 - Al Gore - Earth in the Balance

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