Living a Simple and Serene Life - Essay Sample

Introduction

Both the article (man vs. machine) and the transcendent reading on Dao de Jing, supports living a simple and serene life. While Dao de Jing, Transcendentalism readings explain how to attain this through tolerance and patience, Man vs. machine article shows how people can be hostile in search of a simple and serene environment. The article explains the terror caused by technology; a man named Ted Kaczynski alias Unabomber goes down the history as the most wanted criminal who managed to evade the FBI for nearly 18 years. He was initially a professor who turned into an anti-technology serial killer (Warren). The transcendent reading, however, explains the need for an individual to strip off all the fears and selfish desires and accept the world the way it is; the reading further explains that doing this, a person discovers their moral strength and natural virtue.

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The major themes explored in the article is noise pollution, technological advancements, and people's negative attitudes towards the changes brought by technology. Man, vs. Machine article, approaches the extreme technological opposition by exploring the life of Unabomber and his struggles with technology advancements, which landed him in trouble with the authorities. The article is structured in a way that the reader understands Unabomber's life before and during his terror attacks. Before, he lived a simple, natural, and perfectly equilibrium life but was later destabilized by technological advancement and decided to be hostile in pursuit of the natural life without technological advancements. It also displays factual evidence about the bombings conducted for around 18 years in a row; five of them were in northern California, where 23 people were injured, and three succumbed.

The article advocates for a particular position of getting rid of Unabomber from society but does not address the issues that led to criminal behavior. It is evidenced by Nathan Connolly's comment that there was a collective sigh of relief across the country after the arrest of Unabomber. The government, as well as the citizens, rejoiced at his arrest but did not solve the problem fully. The cause of the problem should have been addressed to avoid the recurrence of such situations in the future. According to Scholar Steven Jones, the promising mathematics professor might have been turned into an anti-technology terrorist by the experiments he was engaged with at Harvard. The government should have taken measures to reach the entire group that participated in the experiments and engage the relevant departments and ministries in regulating and enhancing ethical research behavior to avoid such uproars in the future (Auletta). The article analyzes an extreme case of technological rejection as the main targets of the bombings were the people who seemingly advocated for technological development.

Dao de Jing mainly focuses on the themes of simplicity, genuineness, selflessness, and Wu Wei (natural action). Daoism, also referred to as Taoism is a Chinese philosophy that signifies the world's true nature. According to Dao, selflessness, and simplicity leads to a life full of non-purposive or a rather natural action. Unlike the article where Unabomber has no room for changes that come with technology, Dao acknowledges that there is no single that is fixed, motionless, or static in the Universe as transformation occurs every day (Ivanhoe). The themes in the Dao reading shows that the spontaneous changes and transformations that occur help every being to establish its way through impulse and intuition.

Unlike the article which advocated for a particular direction, Dao de Jing does not have a specific position. It is an informative reading with 81 texts that shows how people should simply adjust with the spontaneous changes that occur without fighting them or forcing their way. Unlike the article Man vs. Machine, where Unabomber fights against all the odds to prevent technological advancements, Dao de Jing considered such an action unethical with the argument that it is right to leave spontaneity as it is without making any form of alterations. According to Dao, everything, and the changes and transformations that occur are self-expressing and self-regulating in nature.

Both the article and the reading show a need for people to live a simple and natural life. Any changes that occur in the environment, especially causing nuisance noise, can provoke people to extreme reactions. The article shows how an irritated person resolved to quit his job as a professor, withdrew from society, and later started producing hand-made bombs to launch attacks on the people who embraced and facilitated technology advanced. The reading, on the other hand, believes that the changes that occur should be natural and self-regulating. The technological advancements are human made as they are usually perpetrated by men hence not an act of nature and may end up destabilizing the simple, natural, and stable equilibrium that Dao de Jing advocates. Although both the reading and the article advocates for a simple and natural life, the article shows that violence can be used to oppose chances and maintain simple natural life. In contrast, Dao de Jing is focused more on being peaceful, stripping off one's selfish desires, and adapting to the changes.

Works Cited

Auletta, Ken. Backstory: Inside the business of news. Penguin, 2004. doi: 10.1080/08821127.2005.10677985

Ivanhoe, Philip J. The Daodejing of Laozi. Hackett Publishing, 2003. Retrieved 10 March 2020, from https://www.amazon.com/Daodejing-Laozi-Hackett-Classics/dp/0872207013

Warren, Drew C. "Ted Kaczynski: Evil or Insane?." (2017) retrieved 10 March 2020, from https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1650&context=student_scholarship