The silent screw is a means by which a product seller "screws" a certain percentage of their consumer-base, but at the same time, makes it appear to consumers that they're being done a favor. The prime example of this is the "warranty." Warranties were not meant to benefit consumers, they were meant to limit the liability of the seller to a specified time or usage limit. During the craft phase, warranties were unnecessary. Craftsmen simply produced a good product and stood behind it ... or they went out of business. But during the mechanization phase, product creators embraced the acceptable fuck-up factor ... the philosophy that it's OK to screw a certain percentage of their consumer-base as long as the majority of consumers remained satisfied.

Think of warranties in this way. Warranties are not "given" to you out of the kindness of a seller's heart. They are "sold" to you (included in the product price) along with the product. Consumers who buy products buy them with the implied understanding that they accept the warranty. If you bought a TV with a 12-month warranty and it died in the 13th month, see how far you'd get in court trying to bring the seller to task. They'd whip out their warranty which you accepted at the time you bought the TV, the judge would nod, and that would be the end of the trial. And, consumers are largely ignorant of the silent screw ... which accounts for good sales figures for so-called "extended warranties." In essence, sellers are telling you "We'll stand behind our product a little longer than we were willing to stand behind it if you're willing to pay for the privelege." And instead of demanding manufacturer accountability, consumers just hand the money over to the seller, bend over, and say, "Yazzuh, boss. Stick it up there high and tight."

Remember Ted Kaczynski? He doesn't look like much. But you're looking at the photo of a child prodigy who attended Harvard at the age of 16, got his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, went on to become an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and had nine mathematical treatises published in scholarly journals between 1964 and 1969. But then came a tenth treatise in 1971 ... an essay that had nothing to do with mathematics. It was pure sociology and Ted mailed copies of it to several of his colleagues. Shortly after that, Ted "dropped out" ... and gave the F.B.I. a chase that lasted 18 years. It wasn't until Ted's brother, David, read a later writing by Ted, recognized his style, and pointed the F.B.I. in Ted's direction that Ted was finally brought to justice. Ted Kaczynski had transformed himself into a person who came to be known as The Unibomber. He got that name because he targeted UNIversity professors to receive a mailBOMB. Alternately, some use a different Unabomber spelling ... changing the "i" to "a" to make reference to the packages being shipped by AIRfreight.