Theodore John Kaczynski, Ph.D. (a.k.a. Ted Kaczynski) was born in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Harvard at age sixteen, earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan and became assistant professor of mathematics at UC-Berkeley at the age of twenty-five. After two years, Kaczynski resigned his professorship and moved to a remote wilderness area of western Montana to pursue a life-long ambition of living an autonomous and self-sufficient life from the land, which he did for twenty-five years.
Kaczynski has been incarcerated since 1998 in rigorous confinement at Federal Prison ADX in Florence, Colorado, after receiving a life sentence for the long-term violent campaign he undertook to call world-wide attention to the colossal dangers inherent in technological growth.
There are more than a few people who feel that society's rush
toward a technological future will lead to disaster. This book
presents some pointers for thinking in broad, strategic terms about
getting society off that particular road. The overall goal for any
organization, whether it is social, political or environmental,
should be clear and simple. It can't be something vague, like
"promoting democracy" or "protecting the environment." The goal
also needs to be irreversible; once achieved, it can never be taken
away. An example is when women got the right to vote in the early
20th century. After it happened, any politician was going to have a
very hard time taking it away from them. No matter how democratic
an organization claims to be, there will be times when not every
issue can be placed before the entire membership for a vote. There
needs to be an inner core of committed members with the authority
to make such decisions. Throughout history, many people have
suggested that human society needs to be "planned" or "controlled,"
for various reasons. A huge, chaotic thing like human society can
not be controlled to any great extent. At most, it can be "nudged"
in one direction or another. Who decides in what direction human
society should go? What is a "good" outcome? Assume, just for a
moment, that it is possible to control human society. Assume that
there is a computer system big enough to handle the trillions of
equations that need to be solved. Who is in charge, a person or a
small group? Who gets to decide who that person, or people, should
be? Can a lack of ego be guaranteed? A number of writers, including
Ray Kurzweil, are looking forward to the day when human
immortality, or the coming of human cyborgs or the uploading of a
person's brain to a computer become reality. The author asserts
that these are nonsense. For instance, immortality will only be
available to the one percent, not to everyone. This book is heavy
history and social science, so it is not for everyone. The reader
will get a lot out of it. This is very highly recommended.
Reviewer's Bookwatch: June 2018 James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review 278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/jun_18.htm#paul - - Midwest
Book Review
"Kaczynski's second book, Anti-Tech Revolution , is a true
milestone in thinking about technology. It is a well-researched,
well-written, and thoroughly-documented work dedicated to
undermining the technological system before its worst consequences
become reality. Nothing else like it exists. All those concerned
with the future of humanity and the planet would do well to study
it carefully." Prof. David Skrbina , University of Michigan,
Dearborn, USA
"In this thoughtful book, Dr Kaczynski provides a blueprint for the
radical anti-technology movement. If you want to stop AI before
it's too late, this may be your best bet." Dylan Evans, Ph.D. ,
author of The Utopia Experiment
"Kaczynski understands what those of us more fully participating in
the technological system are unable to fully appreciate: that
technological society is beyond rational human control and will
result in cataclysmic harm. What he presents is a sound moral
argument with what should be eye-opening historical social
illustrations that are, together, too numerous to refute." Jai
Galliott, Ph.D. , School of Engineering and Information Technology,
UNSW Canbarra
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