In his writings on the existential dangers of technology, Ellul writes that some people are so blinded by the possibilities of tech that they fail to appreciate the risks.
The most common targets of his attacks continued to be academics throughout his almost two decades of terror."
These technophiles succumb to the “technological bluff”. The bluff is that tech promises solutions, but what it really offers is a cascade of new problems that need to be fixed. Those who are blinded, argues Ellul, think that the solution to new tech problems is always more tech.
For example, Ellul might argue that mass access to cars has a major downside of greenhouse gases, which is a problem some expect to fix with new carbon capture technology. But carbon capture will have its own problems. The solution? More tech. And, repeat.
All technologies, argues Ellul, come with costs and at some point the whole system becomes uncontrollable. To Ellul, the answer isn’t more tech but less. Consistent with this view, the answer to greenhouse gases isn’t carbon capture, it’s fewer cars.
If you found yourself nodding along to this view of the world, you can see why a genius like Kaczynski also found them compelling. They were a core part of his intellectual background, the bridge between his academic world and his bombmaking cabin in the woods.
Things really spiralled for Kaczynski when he got access to magazines published by radical environmentalists, who were calling for violent action. All he could think about was our extinction, and he came to believe that it was up to him to kill the people who were insisting on keeping the march of technology going. The outcome was devastating.
Learn more about the Unabomber, and let us debunk some commonly held misconceptions about this fascinating case, on the most recent episode on the BBC Sounds podcast Bad People. We cover the Unabomber case in a two part special.
