From: Ray Cromwell <rjc@clark.net>
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 95 21:16:26 PDT
To: frogfarm@yakko.cs.wmich.edu
Subject: Re: WWW: Unabomber Manifesto
In-Reply-To: <199509200210.WAA29968@yakko.cs.wmich.edu>
Message-ID: <199509200416.AAA18328@clark.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> 
> 
> 
> The Unabomber Manifesto as published in the September 19th 
> Washington Post Special Supplement is available in a slightly
> HTML-ized version at
> 
> http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/~frogfarm/unabomb.html


  The Unabomber's whole argument about "industrial-technological
society must continually remove freedoms" and his arguments
about the motives of scientists and technologists, are 
false by existence of modern cryptography and the cypherpunks.
The Unabomber's whole argument rests on his lack of imagination.
Almost all his arguments about large scalee technology were 
counterargued years ago on the Extropian's list. The errors
in his essay are numerous, for instance, he uses as argument,
that medical progress (if that were the only kind of technology)
would be bad in and of itself. As an example, he uses diabetes
which, if treated, allows the diseased to live longer and pass
on their genes. But most forms of diabetes happen at adult
onset longer after the individual would have reproduced anyway.

His arguments against leftists, while partially correct, are poorly
constructed and flawed too. 

All and all, it wasn't worth the 3 deaths and 17 years of bombings
to get tripe like this published. The Unabomber should have found
a ghostwriter friend with a degree in philosophy and got him/her
to write and publish it.

Anyway, the best way to sum up the Unabomber's fantasy world is that
people in the past had high self-esteem, they were simple and happy, and
didn't have to climb the corporate ladder. 

Too bad he didn't read any anthropological studies first.

-Ray