Comment by jmull | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jmull | Hacker News Reader

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Very interesting article.

But I think it's a mistake to believe the ideas he was exposed to as an undergraduate lead to him becoming the unabomber.

In his manifesto he works through a lot of these ideas and shows us the world view he's developed around them, but the impetus for it all -- it seems clear to me -- comes from his inability to come to terms with living in a society.

It causes him great pain and distress and he's been unable to find a way to make it stop. He's finally decided that society needs to go, and violently. And he's come up with a meticulously constructed world view to support this... (1) that this is somehow OK and (2) that it's possible.

While it looks like he clearly used ideas from his Harvard days to create his world view, the motivation existed independent of them. I think he was simply using the materials at hand and would have used other ideas had he not been exposed to the the "Gen Ed" ones... a world view different in details but supporting the same conclusion.

It does seem reasonable to wonder whether severe psychological experiments might have pushed a mind on the edge over a precipice, though.

>It does seem reasonable to wonder whether severe psychological experiments might have pushed a mind on the edge over a precipice, though

His family members and acquaintances considered him to be an undiagnosed autist, so I would expect the psyops conducted against him would be especially damaging.

Rather than dismissing him in such a crude manner, why don't you take the time to read and comprehend what he has written - and, assuming you find any - try to point out the flaws in his reasoning.

Kaczynski was a genius, among other things, and his views deserve better than armchair dismissal and handwaving.

It was very odd for me, having never read the manifesto before to see Kaczynski arrive at the word 'oversocialization.' I've used the same word to describe what we've become with social media and massively interconnected communication. There's a very natural part of the human psyche that becomes lost when one has to second guess one's unconscious preferences continually to be aware of whether one might be seen as racist, sexist, ableist, or ageist. It might be necessary for everyone to live together successfully but there's something very sad about it also.

Why would anyone try to understand the ramblings of a twisted person who murdered 3 and maimed many more?

You judge the material not the source.

There is lots of writing out there, more than you could ever read. You would never have heard of Kaczynski if not for his murders, so if you read his writing it is only because of his murders. Should you?

That's deep

> Kaczynski was a genius, among other things, and his views deserve better than armchair dismissal and handwaving.

Kaczynski is a murderer and a danger to society. That alone disqualifies his views merit.

If a murderer believes the sky is blue, does that mean it is actually lime green?

If Hitler believed washing your hands before surgery improved patient outcome, would that also be wrong?

It's not as though the speaker alters reality by speaking.

The binary perspective you espouse in this post is exactly like the problematic dualism shared by Kaczinski.

it seems clear to me -- comes from his inability to come to terms with living in a society.

This.

If he were free today would he reddit or 4chan or something else?

Just a smart killing nut who took the effort that is now not required because of social sites

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