The Unabomber's Manifesto Totally Nailed Our Addiction To Technology

By | January 18, 2020

Industrial Society and Its Future: More than just a catchy title

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Source: ABC News

From 1978 to 1996, Ted Kaczynski (better known as the "Unabomber") went on a reign of terror that involved mailing a series of increasingly sophisticated homemade bombs to seemingly random targets. The explosives killed three people and injured 24 more over the the nearly two decades of attacks. His crimes are some of the worst cases of domestic terrorism of the 20th century. In other words, he was a real jerk.

Along with his bombs, however, Kaczynski produced a 35,000-word manifesto to explain why he was trying to destroy modern civilization. Titled Industrial Society and Its Future, the Unabomber's manifesto detailed the ways in which he believed technology had destabilized the world. Kaczynski might have been completely out of his gourd (or maybe not—we'll get to that), but he nailed our addiction to technology.

He was worried about social media before that was a thing

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Source: Murderpedia

Kaczynski was, to put it lightly, a thoroughly paranoid person. He was so turned off by technology and its increased usage in urban America that he moved to woods of Montana, where he wrote and blew things up until he was caught. His paranoia is on fully display in his literary masterpiece, but he predicted the rise of social media with eerie accuracy. He lamented that people were already becoming too locked into their "useless pursuits," taking part in "surrogate activities" from the consumption of movies to sports to celebrity gossip, to do important work. Of course, he considered science a "useless pursuit," so don't worry, he was still a complete weirdo.