I agree with most of the things that this guy said. Like all that stuff about technology making us miserable by disrupting the power process. I also feel like I have many traits of what Ted calls leftism.
However, I don't think that an anti-tech revolution will be a good solution. I like to view technological progress as an extension to biological evolution. Nature created humans such that humans would create technology. We don't need to wait a billion years to obtain a protective shell around our bodies because we can craft clothes and armour. We don't wait for nature to grant us the ability to communicate over long distances because we invent the telegraph and now the internet. The point that I'm trying to make is that it is possible to view technology as something natural. We draw distinctions between "natural" and "artificial" because it is important for us to know whether something was made by a human or not, but from a certain perspective, there is no distinction.
Ofcourse, if we're not careful enough, we may end up destroying our own species, which is why technology must be regulated.
Ted seems to think that bringing back the power process will give back our freedom and happiness, but I think that we'll still find ways to make ourselves miserable. Whatever path we take, we'll end up suffering.
We shouldn't get rid of technology, but we shouldn't forget all the pain that it has brought unto us either.
More info - read Ted Kaczynski's "Industrial Society and it's Future" online:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.text.htm
Edited 2 months ago
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>we would be happier if we lived like we did before industrialization
>anyway I'm gonna go bomb a bunch of innocent people now
for a genius he sure was fucking retarded
god that book fucking sucked. whenever he isn't bitching on and on about women, he's handing out the most watered down, braindead version of Nietzsche I've ever read.
like there is seriously something to be said about the multi-dimensional affront that technology is afflicting onto our existence, but Ted's political takes were so shallow and lame and mired in his own neurotic bullshit that I couldn't possibly read another page further.
I recently picked up a book on cyber-espionage by Cliff Stoll, and I noticed that he actually turned out to be majorly critical of the internet as a whole during its infancy. He mentions a very interesting critique of the information age that I've never heard before, and that's how he believes it to be hostile to human curiosity. Cliff argues that the constant availability of answers to our questions will placate the individuals curiosity, and eventually atrophy their skills of reasoning and problem-solving.
Do you mean the The Cuckoo's Egg (book)?
I remember reading somewhere on Reddit that he had written in his journal that his ideology was just an excuse so he could kill people without feeling bad about it. I would love to check out if this is true or not but I'm afraid that I'm gonna get put on some government watch-list if I Google this stuff.
Also thanks for the book recommendation! I will check it out.
Idk, moral philosophy is a sticky subject when you dive into it, especially when getting into the nihilistic aspects. I'd recommend checking out some of Nietzsche's writings on herd morality if you want some good insight into Ted's criticism of leftism.
Should also say that it's tough to blame Ted for lashing out when you look at what various organizations did to him during his life. His story is definitely a tragic one.
BTW probably wouldn't recommend Cliff Stoll's work on social commentary, but The Cuckoo's Egg is a fascinating read. It's about his uncovering and tracking of an international espionage which he stumbled on shortly after becoming a sys-admin at Berkeley in the 1980's.