Ted Kaczynski Aka The Unabomber
1. Over the course of the film, Ted Kaczynski, aka ‘the Unabomber,’ is described as a “sick criminal,” “madman,” and a “creator of pain and suffering.” Yet there are others who defend him. What are your impressions of his character, ideas, and methods? I think that his fears are not uncommon in the modern technological society that we live in. Perpetual surveillance and the precarious nature of the freedom of man under such circumstances, are not topics that only Kaczynski recognized as dangerous results of technology. Being a mathematician in such a pivotal technological era no doubt encouraged his fears of the potential power of technology to turn the tables and control humans instead because he likely understood the potentialities of the technology more than the average person. However, such fears have always existed in the 20th and 21st century and at every level in society, as is visible in screen arts. In short, I do not think his ideas about technology are all that unique; however, his methods to reign in the change ‘necessary’
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change were radical, dangerous, and ineffective. In terms of his character, I do not know how I feel about him. He is obviously highly intelligent, but that does not guarantee that one correct or sane.
2. Early in the film, the director asks, “Why would a mathematician become a terrorist” (5:00)? How do you interpret the film’s answer to this question? How do you personally explain Kaczynski’s transformation? The film suggests that Kaczynski’s knowledge as a mathematician and role in counterculture at the time, learning about emerging computers and computer networks likely led to his terrorist activities, because he had a greater understanding of the potential of the technologies, particularly the new technologies’ potential for hindering individual freedom.
When the question was posed, the tone implied that such a transformation was unlikely, but I do not think that being a mathematician in any way prevents one from being a terrorist. It appeared to me that the more he learned about these emerging technologies and their potential ubiquity, the more he understood their negative effects, theorizing that they would eventually control humans. His transformation, while unique and radical, is not all that surprising to me. In an era of such great evolution, in this case technological, there are bound to be those who find fault in
it.
3. At another point in the film, the director asks, “Why did artists and scientists, in constructing their machines, use apparently similar patterns and concepts? Was there a secret basic pattern and system?” (2:55). What are some of the answers the film provides? The film suggests that art and science are in extricably interconnected. Artists and scientists converged in their methods of search and research. For example, the acid tests of the 1960s searched for knowledge in everything, even garden hoses, while research of the same era created our very earliest computers. Each groups was also interested in feedback loops, a connection further supported by the diagram drawn by the filmmaker throughout the documentary which connected artistic movements, social movements, historical moments, and important points in scientific evolution. Furthermore, both groups were interested in creating open systems, artists with LSD and the effects in had on users’ perceptions and scientists with Arpanet and Ethernet, attempting to create an open system to connect the world. 1960s avant-garde and science also attempted to erase boundaries between art or science and life.
4. At one point in the film the hallucinogenic drug LSD is described as an “alternative form of cybernetics” (17:50). How are LSD and cybernetics connected? Like cybernetics, LSD blurs the borders of human beings and their environments. As explained by Stewart Brand acid tests searched for knowledge in everything, using the example of the garden hose cut up and tied in knots for 15-20 people to listen through so that participants could hear others but they were unable to determine who. Their spatial relations were entirely blurred, as were they themselves and their peers. Similarly, cybernetics studied the interactions and blurred lines between people themselves and people and their environment, through the transfer of information, which led to pilots becoming part of their aircraft and computers becoming surveillance systems to protect and defend peoples.
5. What role did the Cold War play in the development of early computing? The Cold War created the necessity of more sophisticated technology. Robert Taylor explained that Arpanet, a predecessor of the internet, was a direct response to the launch of sputnik. Furthermore, the SAGE computer was created to monitor and defend America’s skies against Russia. In order to prove itself against its enemy and protects its citizens, the United States began to fund technological research in universities, institutions, and private laboratories, all of which was coordinated by the Department of Defense.
change were radical, dangerous, and ineffective. In terms of his character, I do not know how I feel about him. He is obviously highly intelligent, but that does not guarantee that one correct or sane.
2. Early in the film, the director asks, “Why would a mathematician become a terrorist” (5:00)? How do you interpret the film’s answer to this question? How do you personally explain Kaczynski’s transformation? The film suggests that Kaczynski’s knowledge as a mathematician and role in counterculture at the time, learning about emerging computers and computer networks likely led to his terrorist activities, because he had a greater understanding of the potential of the technologies, particularly the new technologies’ potential for hindering individual freedom.
When the question was posed, the tone implied that such a transformation was unlikely, but I do not think that being a mathematician in any way prevents one from being a terrorist. It appeared to me that the more he learned about these emerging technologies and their potential ubiquity, the more he understood their negative effects, theorizing that they would eventually control humans. His transformation, while unique and radical, is not all that surprising to me. In an era of such great evolution, in this case technological, there are bound to be those who find fault in
it.
3. At another point in the film, the director asks, “Why did artists and scientists, in constructing their machines, use apparently similar patterns and concepts? Was there a secret basic pattern and system?” (2:55). What are some of the answers the film provides? The film suggests that art and science are in extricably interconnected. Artists and scientists converged in their methods of search and research. For example, the acid tests of the 1960s searched for knowledge in everything, even garden hoses, while research of the same era created our very earliest computers. Each groups was also interested in feedback loops, a connection further supported by the diagram drawn by the filmmaker throughout the documentary which connected artistic movements, social movements, historical moments, and important points in scientific evolution. Furthermore, both groups were interested in creating open systems, artists with LSD and the effects in had on users’ perceptions and scientists with Arpanet and Ethernet, attempting to create an open system to connect the world. 1960s avant-garde and science also attempted to erase boundaries between art or science and life.
4. At one point in the film the hallucinogenic drug LSD is described as an “alternative form of cybernetics” (17:50). How are LSD and cybernetics connected? Like cybernetics, LSD blurs the borders of human beings and their environments. As explained by Stewart Brand acid tests searched for knowledge in everything, using the example of the garden hose cut up and tied in knots for 15-20 people to listen through so that participants could hear others but they were unable to determine who. Their spatial relations were entirely blurred, as were they themselves and their peers. Similarly, cybernetics studied the interactions and blurred lines between people themselves and people and their environment, through the transfer of information, which led to pilots becoming part of their aircraft and computers becoming surveillance systems to protect and defend peoples.
5. What role did the Cold War play in the development of early computing? The Cold War created the necessity of more sophisticated technology. Robert Taylor explained that Arpanet, a predecessor of the internet, was a direct response to the launch of sputnik. Furthermore, the SAGE computer was created to monitor and defend America’s skies against Russia. In order to prove itself against its enemy and protects its citizens, the United States began to fund technological research in universities, institutions, and private laboratories, all of which was coordinated by the Department of Defense.