In the US, Ted Kaczynski carried out a series of mail bombings that killed three people and injured several others. His crimes were horrific and unjustifiable, yet his ideas behind them continue to provoke debate.
Kaczynski believed that modern technology rather than improving life, was making people less happy and more disconnected from nature and one another. In his manifesto Industrial Society and Its Future, he argued that society had become trapped in dependence on technology. People, he claimed, were no longer in control of their lives but were instead controlled by systems, machines, corporations and bureaucracies that dictated how they lived and worked. Humans, he believed, evolved to live in small, self-reliant communities, but industrial society forced them into artificial roles that served technology rather than personal happiness.
He saw the rise of mental illness and environmental destruction in industrialised societies as symptoms of this. His conclusion that the entire technological system should be destroyed was extreme, but his warnings about the psychological and social costs of modern life still resonate. There is growing evidence that as technology has advanced, people haven’t necessarily become happier. Rates of depression and anxiety have risen sharply in developed countries.
Social media, while connecting billions, has also made many feel more isolated and insecure. Constant exposure to online comparisons can leave people feeling inadequate. Even though technology has made life more convenient, it has also created stress. Many respected thinkers have voiced similar concerns without sharing Kaczynski’s violent views. In The Technological Society (1954), French philosopher Jacques Ellul described how modern life is dominated by the pursuit of efficiency: the drive to find the fastest, easiest and most productive way to do everything. He warned that this obsession often comes at the cost of morality, community and meaning.
Sherry Turkle, a psychologist, offers a modern perspective on this issue. In her book “Alone Together”, she argues that while technology connects us constantly, it often leaves us emotionally isolated. People text instead of talk, scroll instead of listen and use devices to avoid real human interaction. These ideas don’t mean technology is bad in itself. It has brought enormous benefits — longer lives, better medicine, faster communication and access to knowledge. But progress has come at a price. Society often lets technology develop faster than it can think about its consequences. We chase newer, faster devices, assuming that innovation automatically equals improvement. The real challenge is to find balance, to use technology in ways that support human well-being instead of undermining it.
Kaczynski’s fatal mistake was believing that violence was the only solution. The true answer lies in learning to control technology rather than letting it control us. That means designing tools and systems that respect mental health, the environment and the need for real human connection. It means slowing down, questioning whether every new invention truly improves life and remembering that progress should be measured by happiness and purpose, not just efficiency. Kaczynski’s heinous crimes will always overshadow his ideas, yet the questions he raised about the cost of modern life remain deeply relevant. Are we truly happier in a world where texting replaces face-to-face conversation? Or have we traded essential human connection for convenience?
In the rush towards progress, we must not lose the very things that make us human. Unchecked technological progress risks diminishing human freedom and the very meaning of being human. The central warning is not against technology itself, but against allowing it to evolve without reflection, restraint or moral direction.
Karim Easterbrook
The writer is a Former Cambridge School Principal and Author
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