Reliance on machines, the Unabomber argues, limits human freedom by changing the very understanding of personhood. “Technology,” he writes, “is a more powerful social force than the aspiration for freedom.” The pervasiveness of the industrial system, so inescapable that it’s unquestioned, pushes people toward artificial goals and irrational pursuits. It robs individuals of the ability to think and feel autonomously, convincing them to willfully adopt whatever irrational rules society claims to require. There is no separation, the Unabomber insists, between “good” and “bad” technology: It’s all
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