May 11

I wouldn't have thought the Unabomber would get me thinking the way he has. He was the featured article on Wikipedia the other day, and something about his philosophy was a bit unsettling. Somehow, I got down a bit of a rabbit hole reading about his Luddite nature, the fact that he was initially a genius math professor who ended up being a recluse and living a simple life. 

I make a living developing technology and training others to do the same. Reading about Ted Kaczynski strikes a tone that is critical of my very way of life. I think the way to approach this is to follow the quote attributed to Aristotle: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." I must admit, I found something about it disturbing though.

Does technology increase human flourishing, or not? Very complicated question that I probably can't answer fully in one blog post. Certainly, in some ways, it does. But in other ways, it doesn't. Social media is a good example of a modern technology that has extremely positive and extremely negative aspects. But I want to believe that at least some technology can be overall a net benefit to humanity.

As I mentally tossed (what I know of) the Unabomber's thoughts around in my head, entertaining them without accepting them, I ended up here:

I must do all that I can to ensure that the technologies I work on enhance human flourishing and have a minimal negative impact on the environment and on people's lives.

(As a side note, I'm getting better at saying and writing what I truly feel. I felt it when revising the Military Relevance document for the PRMRP proposal today, and felt it a few other times earlier this month when I was getting into the groove of things.)