The Unabomber: Is He Serious?
There comes a time when everyone has something to say. The next step would be to find someone to listen. If that doesn't work, I suppose you just have to make them listen.
The Unabomber's Manifesto was probably one of the most interesting and thought provoking points of view that I have read in a while. It's just too bad that every time he made a point that I could relate with, he would contradict himself before I was finished with the paragraph. In my opinion, the entire manifesto and every viewpoint expressed therein, was a strange mix of confusion, fact and storytelling. Although written with an abundance of detail and many strong convictions, I finished reading the selection without being able to see the purpose behind it all and what he stood to gain. I'm sure that wasn't exactly his intentions when he wrote it.
I feel there is one thing the author deserves credit for right from the start; his uncanny ability to set a pessimistic mood. From the minute you glance at the introduction, he, assuming the author is male, begins to paint a picture of destruction and demise of the world in which we live. What could cause such a catastrophe? According to the author, it would have to be industry and technology of all things. He was convinced that due to the industrial- technological system in which we live, ultimately humans are going to be subjected to world wide suffering and inevitably a total shut down of humanity.
Now at this moment I felt a little disbelief. I had heard he was actually an intelligent person, but I was starting to wonder.
His whole theory was based on the fact, that at one point or another, the human race will be taken to the point of complete break down. He feels that if it's bound to happen, we should make it happen now. The longer we wait, the more people will suffer. Now, I know our sun will eventually burn out, so does that mean that it should be the concern of everyone on the planet to devise a method to destroy it immediately and save us the trouble of having to do it later? I guess I wasn't too surprised when I read how he intended to induce an early break down with a revolution, but the next thing I read left me a little confused. I was interested in how and when he planned to d...
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...here who actually make a difference.
Technology was a turning point in man's struggle in life. When we were first learning to use it, we used it for the wrong reasons. I believe we're moving past that now. We don't fear technology like he does any more. More and more people, including older generations are learning to use it. Not because they have to, but it's only natural for the majority of us to try something new.
When everyone begins to use it, working together, that's what advances us into tomorrow. If everyone was as pessimistic as he, where would we be? Sometimes it takes someone like him to remind us what we used to be and how we used to think. It helps us all stay on track. In the long run, he just becomes someone who wouldn't change and society will forget him. It's ironic to think that we already have. People don't want war, revolution, or violence. We don't need to be the aggressor and more. Our survival isn't assured, but at least we have the means to provide it, to really harvest it when that need arises. People like the Unibomber only give us the motivation to keep on going. And what do we have to thank for our advancement? Technology.
telling them of his plans. This resulted in them being filled with terror as they do not know if
It is hard for our new generations to live with no light. They have been used to artificial light since they were born. Even though, in the older times people had more children but they still used candles. Cutting down completely on all artificial light would be great, but that’s impossible to happen. Technology is going to keep improving. However, if we don’t stop and try to cut down on some of the lighting we use, there will be consequences. Our upcoming generations might not be able to see stars in the sky anymore.
In the late 1980’s Kurt Vonnegut wrote a novel; Galapagos. The novel was written on a story that was a futuristic presumption where a ghost stood witness to the end of human race. The main reason behind the doom of the humans, in the novel, was because according to the writer, the humans had exceeded all levels of technology and in their greed and attempt of gaining from the world as much as possible they ended up vanishing their own race from the face of the earth. The author explained that man, in his novel, had reached a stage where he considered himself more superior than any other creation.
"And yet you do destroy it, each of you. Each of you contributes daily to the destruction of the world."
As we now know, it was all a fugazzi, and his motivations were self-serving. He took money d...
the enemies in a war because we know that it is the only way to make secure and safeguard
that he would only listen to or do what sounded better for him. All of
universal Medicare and the Farm Security Act. When asked why he stayed with the New
were that if you did not support him, then you should not live. So it ended up
by his peers and was also called "the Dumb Ox". I wanted to understand how someone
He did, but he felt really guilty and wanted to help so he went to the farmer and made a new goal to help him plant the seeds
...is destroying persons and the environment….What I am suggesting is that it might be the only chance for the turning of human beings from a course leading to the deterioration and perhaps the end of life on this planet.” ³
...may realize man’s intellectual fallibility and destroy the weaker species for resource control. In other words, A.I. seeks self-preservation with the destruction of mankind. One survey entry responded with a side note that could be a more accurate description of the destruction of mankind. Man himself will destroy himself long before he is ever granted the chance to create an artificially formidable or superior enemy. Whether or not A.I. replace mankind, one should not dismiss that this rapidly approaching technological singularity phenomena is reality.
...wledge that current human activities are destroying the earth. Humans taking responsibility toward sustainability is urgent because much of the injury inflicted on earth is irreversible. Drastic, comprehensive changes in all levels of society have to be made before long because the effects of environmental damage are permanent.