Unabomber

* Re “Professor Responds in Open Letter to Unabomber’s Ideas,” July 5:

We must all be grateful to UC Berkeley psychology professor Tom R. Tyler’s “carefully crafted open letter.” I hope he referred the Unabomber to Reed Karaim’s engaging article, “Technology and Its Discontents,” in Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress, May/June 1995.

By doing so the Unabomber would find he is neither alone nor unique in his concerns; he would also discover a host of the type Tyler describes as “intelligent, thoughtful, rational people,” most of whom abhor what is happening to too many as a consequence of unthinkingly accepting any loss of “control and autonomy over their lives.”

Anything we can do to continue a dialogue with the Unabomber might help; it cannot hurt.

BOB MILLER

Van Nuys

* If the Unabomber had spent his time learning how to use a computer instead of how to make bombs, by now he would be able to communicate his ideas directly to a worldwide audience by self-publishing his 69-page manuscript on the Internet. Technology can be empowering, and the Internet is a highly social medium.

CAROL D. LANHAM

Los Angeles

* For well over 15 years, every reference to the terrorist known as the University Bomber in the print media or on TV was to the “Unibomber.” Suddenly, he has become the “Unabomber”--what does that stand for and why was the change made?

I can only hope that it was not at his request!

FRANK LaROCHE

Ladera Heights