The Ancient Engineers and the Unabomber
by Timothy J. Bergendahl
Copyright © August 1996
Footnote [18] of Unabomer's "Manifesto" reads as follows:
18. (Paragraph 119) "Today, in technologically advanced lands,
men live very similar lives in spite of geographical, religious, and
political differences. The daily lives of a Christian bank clerk in
Chicago, a Buddhist bank clerk in Tokyo, and a Communist bank
clerk in Moscow are far more alike than the life of any one of them
is like that of any single man who lived a thousand years ago. These
similarities are the result of a common technology...." L. Sprague de
Camp, "The Ancient Engineers," Ballantine edition, page 17.
"The Ancient Engineers" represented an important clue, since it
suggested where Unabomer's interests were at least partially
directed. Some facts are as follows:
"The Ancient Engineers" was written by L. Sprague de Camp, and
published as a paperback by Ballantine Books, New York, New
York, in 1963.
"The Ancient Engineers" (Ballantine edition) is 450 pages in
length.
The cover of "The Ancient Engineers" (Ballantine edition) is
primarily blue in color, with two Egyptian pyramids shown in
brown/gold.
"The Ancient Engineers" describes the early but major technological achievements that took place during the evolution of civilization, with these achievements including the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, the Parthenon, and the Great Wall of China, to name a few.
Page 17 of "The Ancient Engineers" (Ballantine edition) is where
Unabomer extracted L. Sprague de Camp's words (the words are on
that page) --- BUT READ ON!
"These SIMILARITIES are the result of a common technology...."
That's what Unabomer wrote in his "Manifesto." BUT that is NOT
what L. Sprague de Camp wrote in his work "The Ancient
Engineers." L. Sprague de Camp wrote:
"These RESEMBLANCES are the result of a common technology...."
Unabomer replaced the word RESEMBLANCES with the word
SIMILARITIES. The replacement was likely not realized (i.e.,
Unabomer did not know he made the replacement); rather, it was
probably due to his habit of writing a word having the same
meaning as "similar" as the actual word "similar." [A mathematician
would use "similar" in the context of describing triangles --
Triangle A is similar to Triangle B. The slipup Unabomer made
here (resemblances being replaced with similarities), coupled with
his interest in "The Ancient Engineers" provided additional weight
to the theory that Unabomer was a computer scientist, engineer,
physical scientist or mathematician.]
A quote from "U.S. News & World Report", April 15, 1996.
Article: "The Mad Bomber"
Pages: 28-36
"There were books both the Unabomer and Kaczynski appeared
fond of. One was The Ancient Engineers, a 1963 text on ancient
history. The Unabomer had cited the book in his manifesto;
Kaczynski had checked it out of the library in Lincoln."
BUT LOOK BELOW!
A transcript of a letter dated August 16, 1996 is as follows:
---
August 16, 1996
Sherri L. Wood
Lincoln Community Library
P.O. Box 309
Lincoln, MT 59639
Tim Bergendahl
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In response to your letter dated August 13, 1996. I do not have a
copy of ANCIENT ENGINEERS, in my library.
I am returning your quarter.
Sincerely,
Sherri L. Wood
Librarian
Copyright © August 1996
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