I recently watched the Netflix movie about Theodore Kaczynski and then went back and read his manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future. I had not thought seriously about Kaczynski for many years. What struck me most was that, whatever else one thinks of him, he was not simply some lunatic living in a cabin in the woods. He was an extraordinarily intelligent man who developed a coherent, if deeply disturbing, philosophical critique of modern civilization.

I do not agree with the methods he used to usher in the world he wanted. In fact, I consider the murder of innocent people morally indefensible. But I find myself agreeing with many of his ideas about technology, human autonomy, and the direction of modern society.

What interests me most about Kaczynski today, however, is not simply his critique of technology. It is the dangerous step he took from believing that he had identified a profound problem to believing that violence was justified in confronting it. That distinction has become particularly relevant in an age of artificial intelligence, when Kaczynski’s warnings about technological dependence seem less like the product of an eccentric mind and more like questions we are increasingly forced to confront. At the same time, recent acts of political violence raise an even broader question: What happens when people become so convinced that another person or institution is harming society that they conclude killing that person is morally justified? The murders of Charlie Kirk and Brian Johnson, and the deification of their murderers by members of our society make evident that America is heading down a dangerous path.

To me, that is Kaczynski’s central lesson. We can recognize that someone has identified a genuine problem without accepting his proposed solution. We can even agree with part of his diagnosis while completely rejecting the idea that the people he considers responsible become legitimate targets. Kaczynski’s ideas about technology deserve examination; his justification for violence does not.

That realization becomes especially interesting when considering artificial intelligence.

Kaczynski’s fundamental concern was not that every individual piece of technology was evil. He argued that technological society gradually creates a system upon which human beings become........

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