The Other Side of an Ivy League Prodigy
藤校天才的另一面
By Ning Zhang (张宁)
Original: 小张老师398
【Editor’s Note: Luigi Mangione, a former valedictorian and Ivy League graduate, recently made headlines after allegedly murdering UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson. His case drew comparisons to Ted Kaczynski, the "Unabomber," known for his anti-technology manifesto Industrial Society and Its Future and a nearly 20-year bombing campaign. Both men were brilliant scholars in technical fields, with Mangione earning degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania and Kaczynski in mathematics from Harvard and Michigan. Kaczynski retreated to a remote cabin while Mangione engaged with society as a game developer. Their motives differ: Kaczynski sought to dismantle industrial society, while Mangione's 262-word note criticized corporate greed but lacked a philosophical framework. Unlike Kaczynski's years-long bombing spree, Mangione's attack was isolated, using a 3D-printed "ghost gun." Both cases sparked public debate—Kaczynski on the dangers of technology, Mangione on healthcare profiteering—highlighting the enduring tension between grievance, justice, and the ethics of violence.】
Luigi Mangione (路易吉·曼吉奥内) recently came under widespread scrutiny for allegedly shooting and killing Brian Thompson (布莱恩·汤普森), the CEO of UnitedHealth Group (联合健康保险公司).
In June 2021, Mangione offered a positive assessment of Industrial Society and Its Future (《工业社会及其未来》) by Ted Kaczynski (泰德·卡钦斯基). Kaczynski, widely known as the “Unabomber” (大学炸弹客), orchestrated a series of homemade bomb attacks between 1978 and 1995, resulting in 3 deaths and more than 20 injuries.
Mangione wrote that dismissing the book as nothing more than a “madman’s manifesto” was a way of avoiding genuine confrontation with its issues, adding that “many of its predictions about modern society have clearly come true.”
There are striking similarities in the methods, ideologies, backgrounds, and potential motives of Mangione and Kaczynski. Upon learning of Mangione’s credentials, many observers were immediately reminded of Kaczynski, who once had the FBI (美国联邦调查局) scrambling and offered a one-million-dollar bounty for his capture.
Here, let us revisit the most expensive investigation in the history of the FBI—its pursuit of Kaczynski—and re-examine Kaczynski’s case and ideology. In drawing comparisons with Mangione’s background and actions, we aim to offer the public a new perspective on the social psychology behind extreme behavior.
Background and Education
Ted Kaczynski (泰德·卡钦斯基) was a brilliant mathematician and child prodigy, born in Chicago on May 22, 1942, to a family of Polish immigrants. His father worked for Kaczynski’s Sausage (卡钦斯基香肠), the family business; his mother was a homemaker. He had a younger brother, David, who was three years his junior. The family was sociable, kind, and diligent.
(Photo caption)
Kaczynski (lower right) is pictured with other top scholarship recipients from high school. Classmates described him as a “walking brain.” Source: Public Domain
Kaczynski earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University (哈佛大学) and received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Michigan (密歇根大学). Although he had a promising academic career and served as an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley (加州大学伯克利分校), he grew increasingly disillusioned with modern society and technology, ultimately retreating to a remote cabin in Montana (蒙大拿州) to live in isolation.
By contrast, the 26-year-old Mangione came from a prominent Baltimore (巴尔的摩) real estate family, enjoying considerable privilege. He attended the prestigious Gilman School (吉尔曼学校) in Baltimore, participating in wrestling and other sports. In 2016, as valedictorian, he declared in his graduation speech that he intended to “present new ideas and challenge the world around us.” In 2020, he obtained both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (宾夕法尼亚大学), majoring in computer science and minoring in mathematics.
Both men demonstrated exceptional academic prowess and chose technical fields for their development. However, while Kaczynski opted for isolation, Mangione showed more signs of social engagement, founding a game development company and maintaining an online presence—albeit possibly laced with confusion and unease.
Motivations
On April 24, 1995, Kaczynski sent letters to multiple newspapers and magazines promising that if The New York Times (纽约时报) and The Washington Post (华盛顿邮报) published his 35,000-word treatise, Industrial Society and Its Future (《工业社会及其未来》), he would cease his nearly eighteen-year spree of bombings. Ultimately, the FBI allowed the publication of his essay to prevent further attacks.
In that manifesto, Kaczynski explained his motives. He believed industrial society inevitably eroded human freedom and that technological innovation would lead to excessive genetic engineering, ultimately allowing the social system to entirely control humanity. He called for a revolution to overthrow industrial civilization and advocated technological regression to liberate human freedom. Thus, he targeted scientists, engineers, and other highly skilled technologists, hoping his bombings would spark societal change.
Mangione’s motives remain under investigation and appear less ideologically explicit. Reports suggest he may have harbored resentment toward Corporate America and the U.S. economic order, possibly stemming from personal grievances or disillusionment. When arrested, police found a handwritten 262-word document expressing certain thoughts, but these lacked the systemic critique found in Kaczynski’s manifesto.
In that 262-word document, Mangione offered to take responsibility for the murder: “To spare you a long investigation, I can clearly state that I worked alone.” He noted that while UnitedHealth Group’s market value continued to grow, Americans’ life expectancies did not increase. He condemned companies for “constantly extracting massive profits from our country because the American public never holds them accountable.”
Mangione employed a “ghost gun” (幽灵枪) to kill the insurance executive, indicating that his anger was directed at a specific target rather than reflecting a broad philosophical critique of society’s structure.
Criminal Acts and Consequences
Over nearly two decades, Kaczynski orchestrated a series of meticulously planned bombings, mailing explosives to individuals and institutions he considered symbols of modern societal ills. His attacks claimed three lives and injured twenty-three others, inciting fear and drawing nationwide attention.
After Industrial Society and Its Future was published, major newspapers carried it, sparking public and academic debates on technology and freedom.
Kaczynski’s sister-in-law first noticed similarities in the essay’s language and ideas compared to Kaczynski’s past correspondence. Initially reluctant to believe his brother could be the Unabomber, David Kaczynski eventually heeded his wife’s urgings and informed the FBI. On April 3, 1996, authorities found evidence in the isolated Montana cabin and arrested him.
On January 22, 1998, Kaczynski was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms without parole.
On June 10, 2023, at age 81, Kaczynski was found dead in his single cell at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina. The cause of death is undetermined, though it is suspected to have been suicide.
From 1971 until his arrest in 1996, Kaczynski lived in a cabin in Montana without electricity or running water. Without his brother’s tip, he might still be at large.
Mangione’s alleged actions involved advanced methods such as 3D-printed firearms but lacked the longevity and systemization of Kaczynski’s campaign. He was reported and arrested soon after the crime, showing neither extensive planning nor evasive skill. Mangione is charged with murder in Manhattan, as well as multiple counts of forgery and illegal gun possession. He remains detained in Pennsylvania without bail while Manhattan prosecutors seek his extradition to New York for trial.
Social Impact
Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, continues to provoke discussion on modern technological society. Even those who condemn his violence acknowledge that some of his philosophical critiques have spurred deeper contemplation of the tension between industrial progress, technological development, and human freedom. His destructive acts notwithstanding, his ideas left a peculiar intellectual legacy.
By contrast, Luigi Mangione’s case generated intense online debate of a different kind. Beyond concerns over “ghost guns” that evade tracing and raise fears about gun control, the case touched a raw nerve in the American public regarding the longstanding issues of the health insurance industry. Some online commentators argued that the insurance executive’s high-profit enterprise, contrasted with soaring healthcare costs, deserved such violence. They saw Mangione’s act as a vigilante strike against injustice, even praising him as someone who “rid society of a menace.”
However, these voices of support or sympathy face strong criticism. While frustration with the healthcare system is understandable, resorting to violence does not solve underlying problems. Instead, it may deflect attention from genuine reforms. The targeted executive was innocent, and such violence not only fails to foster constructive dialogue but further complicates matters.
No matter how public opinion evolves, Mangione’s case will ultimately be judged through the legal system. This reminds us that in expressing societal discontent, we must seek peaceful, rational, and effective means of inspiring change rather than turning to brutality.
References:
wiki
Respect the original; sharing is welcomed. For reprints, please leave a message in the background.
This translation is an independent yet well-intentioned effort by the China Thought Express editorial team to bridge ideas between the Chinese and English-speaking worlds. The original text is available here: 小张老师398
Kindly attribute the translation if referenced.