On the FBI’s most wanted list for 18 years, Theodore (Ted) Kaczynski was the notorious serial killer who crafted dangerous mail bombs from untraceable primitive materials and waged a war of terror. His difficult-to-decipher motive was apparently a general anti-science and technology thrust, a “noble-savage” back-to-nature type philosophy that blamed civilization and not sin for the problems of man.
Our system of justice depends largely on the education of prison inmates, under the assumption that education leads to moral reformation by giving people opportunity to pursue worthwhile causes and contribute profitably to society. Yet, in the case of Dr. Ted Kaczynski, mathematical and scientific genius, we find a horrific failure of intellect and education without God. Ted Kaczynski went to Harvard on a scholarship at age 16. He had a genius level I.Q. of 167, got his PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan with honors for his dissertation, and became a Berkeley Assistant Professor initially considered most likely to get tenure. With his arrest in 1996 and death by suicide in 2023, the American public has had an excellent case study of how intelligence and education do not lead to moral reformation.
There is a difference between educating the mind and educating the conscience and the heart. The one can explain away all sorts of depraved and wrong behavior, while the other convicts and trains a person in morality and righteousness. The Kaczynski family was remembered as “hypereducated”. But Ted, even as a boy, had a history of estranging himself from others and was, for all his brilliance, also remembered as having an arrogant and stubborn streak. He isolated himself from other people all through school and effectively disappeared in 1969 after only two years into his career at Berkeley. He lived by himself in a crude shack in the Montana wilderness for over twenty-five years. He had no close friends, no wife, and as far as could be surmised, no intimates of any kind.
The Bible warns against this sort of thing: “He who separates himself seeks his own desire, he quarrels against all sound wisdom” (Proverbs 18:1). Apparently, Ted Kaczynski not only estranged himself from other people, but he also estranged himself from God – a proud man unable to love. The Bible also says, “Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1).
For all Ted Kaczynski’s study and intellect, the Bible, with just a few pearls of wisdom, pinpoints principles and the problem of self-pride which Ted did not understand. The Good Book trains our character and not just our intellect. While in prison, Kaczynski certainly didn’t need more education. He needed Jesus. Similarly, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) must be programmed with the Bible – or we risk ending up with a much more horrific version of Ted Kaczynski!
– Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman of Creation Moments
Image: Unabomber Sketch 1987, Federal Bureau of Investigation, PD, Wikimedia Commons + Changes Made.
Permission is granted to reprint this material on the condition that it is not modified and that it is attributed to Creation Moments, Inc.
