The moral code of our society is so demanding that no one can think, feel and act in a completely moral way. [...] Some people are so highly socialized that the attempt to think, feel and act morally imposes a severe burden on them. In order to avoid feelings of guilt, they continually have to deceive themselves about their own motives and find moral explanations for feelings and actions that in reality have a non-moral origin.
I was actually curious how that quote would be received. The quote itself is insightful and relevant yet the author is a source of negative affect, approximately a terrorist. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
I’m not surprised. I think a number of us read Kevin Kelly’s essay; he was a very smart guy and so avoids the most obvious errors; and even shares quite a few basic views with us—he just takes them in a different way (‘one man’s modus ponens is another man’s modus tollens’). And I think he’s been quoted and upvoted in the past.
-- Ted Kaczynski
From chapter 4, #25 of The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society And Its Future.
I was actually curious how that quote would be received. The quote itself is insightful and relevant yet the author is a source of negative affect, approximately a terrorist. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
I’m not surprised. I think a number of us read Kevin Kelly’s essay; he was a very smart guy and so avoids the most obvious errors; and even shares quite a few basic views with us—he just takes them in a different way (‘one man’s modus ponens is another man’s modus tollens’). And I think he’s been quoted and upvoted in the past.