It’s still not clear if Kaczynski killed himself or it was cancer. Either way, his death was for the best given how much he scared the hell out of people for two decades while pointing out the FBI’s continued incompetence. For a person with a burning hatred of (advanced) technology, he didn’t seem to have a problem with bombs…a rather difficult technology.
Again, I want to highlight the FBI’s ineptitude. Kaczynski succeeded in mailing bombs via USPS and other couriers with no difficulty. It took Kaczynski’s younger brother to finally discover his true identity after the Washington Post published his manifesto. I’ve never read it since I’m sure it’s a nonsensical, rambling screed on par with the numerous White Power Movement killers; however, many sane people do worry over how the human race’s ability to create and utilize technology outraces our collective wisdom. Obviously, he was mentally ill. A shame Kaczynski never sought nor was given assistance to address his sickness.
To me, the ultimate irony was how his prison cell at America’s SuperMax was larger than his little “cabin” in the boonies of Montana.
So why am I even writing about this guy? Kaczynski came to the forefront of my life and work (indirectly) back in the mid-Nineties a couple times. I clearly recall FedEx sending out alerts about delivery delays whenever “the Unabomber” declared he had shipped a package to someone he saw as a threat. Was I ever worried? Not really since there was a clear pattern to his targets. Kaczynski tended to attack fellow members of Academia, an advertising executive and a timber lobbyist; again, the FBI couldn’t connect the dots via his pattern on the former.