Anti-Nanotech Terrorism by "Individuals Tending Toward the Savage"

A dynamite-stuffed pipe-bomb exploded on Monday at the Monterrey Technological Institute's campus in the State of Mexico, on the outskirts of the capital. It apparently injured two professors. Mexican disciples of the Unabomber styling themselves as "Individuals Tending Toward the Savage" are claiming credit. The would-be Savages oppose the development of nanotechnologies. According to the Associated Press the Savages issued a manifesto expressing

…fears that that nanoparticles could reproduce uncontrollably and form a "gray goo" that would snuff out life on Earth.

"When these modified viruses affect the way we live through a nano-bacteriological war, unleashed by some laboratory error or by the explosion of nano-pollution that affects the air, food, water, transport, in short the entire world, then all of those who defend nanotechnology and don't think it is a threat will realize that it was a grave error to let it grow out of control," according to statement.

Just what the world needs - more anti-technology wackos! Damn!

Update: Readers can view the entire manifesto (in Spanish) here.

Comments

[BakedPenguin]

So that guy should have posted here as "Hispanic Indian"?

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH GO PLAY FOR EAGLES. STEVE SMITH LOVE POST GAME LOCKER ROOM SHOWER. MICHAEL VICK SHOW STEVE SMITH BIG HOT DOG!

[The Enforcer]

Can someone please clarify these "steve smith" references for me? I live under a pop culture rock so don't judge me...

[BakedPenguin]

There's a great deal of debate about STEVE SMITH. Some say he's a horny Sasquatch, willing to violate unwary hikers. Others say he's a lawyer who occasionally writes comments here...

[heller]

What's the difference?

[BakedPenguin]

I don't think it's possible to rape when you type. But then, I've never been good at multi-purposing.

[AA]

LMAO, BP. +10

[PantsFan]

some say he only knows two facts about ducks, both of which are wrong

[House Minority Leader Nancy]

It's a sockpuppet employed by several resident crackpots.

[some guy]

I found him starting his political career.

http://www.stevesmithforsheriff.com/

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH GO PLAY FOR EAGLES. STEVE SMITH LOVE POST GAME LOCKER ROOM SHOWER. MICHAEL VICK SHOW STEVE SMITH BIG HOT DOG!

[Mr Whipple]

Eagles are the dream team.

[Pro Libertate]

Bullshit. Once defenses focus on making Vick pass rather than run--like they did his whole pre-prison career--the fun will be over. Granted, that only works when you have a decent defense, but those usually show up in the postseason.

Don't bet on the Eagles.

[TheZeitgeist]

It all comes down to who the other team has to 'spy' Vick. When you see an outfit with a quick linebacker or mean safety, Vick's in trouble. But they've got to to be 'football smart' too. Sorry Urlacher...

[Pro Libertate]

Don't get me wrong--the Eagles will win, because they have a good team. They just won't go all the way.

[Tman]

I guess this is a positive sign for Mexico that they have an Institute of Technology that's researching something that someone thinks is worth bombing.

Another four years of Obama and it will be Mexico with the illegal immigration problem.

[Nancy Pelosi's Vagina]

a "gray goo" that would snuff out life on Earth.

"PRESENT!"

[Greer]

did you have to? How do I get that out of my mind?

[BakedPenguin]

Some things, when seen, cannot be unseen.

But you can always think about something else.

[Lurker Kurt]

Thank you, sir.

[Harry Reid]

I'd buy that for a dollar!

[Robert Byrd]

You'd be overpaying. Trust me on this one.

[Helen Thomas]

Me, on the other hand? Prime ass, sailor.

[Paul]

"When these modified viruses affect the way we live through a nano-bacteriological war, unleashed by some laboratory error or by the explosion of nano-pollution that affects the air, food, water, transport, in short the entire world, then all of those who defend nanotechnology and don't think it is a threat will realize that it was a grave error to let it grow out of control,"

Is Al Gore trying to get back into the news here?

[Warty]

Where's White Indian, anyway? I haven't seen his crazy in a couple days.

[Pro Libertate]

He was consumed by runaway nanobots.

[Anti-Littering Indian]

[::turns towards camera; sheds a silent tear::]

[Paul]

I remember those commercials. Fuck I'm old.

[JoJo Zeke]

There will be a small, tasteful ceremony later this evening, for those wishing to pay their final respects. Billy Jack will read the eulogy, with music provided by Redbone.

[Pro Libertate]

Best part is that guy was Italian, not Indian.

[Mr Whipple]

Right. And this guy was really a Native American.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQhwNtY3N2k

[Pro Libertate]

Really? Did they think Indians and Italians were interchangeable? Ed Ames, who was the "Indian" I remember most from that time, was a Jew, I believe.

Chief Dan George actually was an Indian, thankfully.

[Episiarch]

He got scalped. He was a pioneer.

[dbcooper]

Gold. 😀

[Episiarch]

Finally, someone appreciating some Devo humor.

[Mister DNA]

I need to come around more often.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Where's White Indian, anyway? I haven't seen his crazy in a couple days.

I would like to think this had something to do with it.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Outted the motherfucker.

[.]

...all of those who defend nanotechnology and don't think it is a threat will realize that it was a grave error to let it grow out of control," according to statement.

Apparently it was also a grave error to let certain segments of the population grow out of control.

[Fluffy]

That's what happens when you let hippies watch the SyFy channel.

[Paul]

Real hippies don't watch TV.

[Rachel Maddow]

Not enough of 'em, at any rate, to judge from my ratings.

[Pudgeboy]

Real hippies would fight the beast by forming a non-judgmental drumming circle of tolerance... just to raise awareness.

[Fluffy]

Unless Sharon Tate was the lead researcher.

[Pudgeboy]

Everyone knows that Clay Shaw and the CIA killed Tate.

[Pro Libertate]

I thought it was LBJ.

[Hazel Meade]

Mexico has hippies who are into sci-fi?

Paranoid, luddites sci-fi watching hippies?

I'm sorry. I'm still getting over how demolished by image of Mexican society is.

[Pro Libertate]

And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

[Mr. FIFY]

Luddite sci-fi geeks. Wow.

[Pro Libertate]

I meant that Mexico was acting more like us.

[Nipplemancer]

old Ned Ludd would be proud

[Joe Biden]

"Nanny-bots!" What a totally awesome concept! That way, we could pretty much make certain no one ever ate or spoke or watched or thought ANYthing that wasn't, y'know, really good for them! I am so gonna look into this!

[.]

It's not gonna be like when you spouted off about SEAL Team 6 being responsible for Osama bin Laden's death, is it? Way to get some sailors killed, Joe. Know any other good tricks?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Es loco en la cabeza. Everyone knows the robots to worry about are the really big ones. Muy grande es muy malo!

[Frankenstein Jr.]

Racist.

[Tman]

Threadjack-

Smarmy Carney - "Unemployment Benefits Creates 1 million jobs"

http://www.realclearpolitics.c....._jobs.html

They actually believe this. It's simply astounding to witness the complete and total logical disconnect from this administration. I'm not even surprised by this stuff anymore.

[anomdebus]

Just think of all the jobs that would be created if everybody lost their jobs! That could be just what we need to kick this recession!

[Jim]

Severely OT, but I can't help myself.

My question is, did they really have to add the last clause on this sentence?

From the Gamera wiki:

Gamera also has the ability to fly. Generally, Gamera pulls in his arms, legs, head, and tail into his shell, fires flames out of his arm and leg cavities and spins around like a flying saucer, a precedent unheard of in turtles.

[Brandybuck]

When it comes to fanboys of Japanese cinema, you need to speak slowly and enunciate clearly. Frankly I'm surprised they took the bold step of using three syllable words.

[Nipplemancer]

I had a turtle once. Most boring pet ever. If he spun around like a saucer and shot flames, that wouldn't be the case.

[Jim]

You could get some fireworks and glue them to his shell to get the desired effect.

Or you could get an alligator snapper for a pet, and dare your friends to throw their yapping lap dogs in his enclosure.

A chick from England that my buddy was dating went with us to the zoo once, and was appalled that the New World had large, mean-looking, carnivorous turtles.

[Episiarch]

I almost stepped on a pretty big one in a river one time. Luckily I saw it and still have all my toes.

[Jim]

^^ this story is pretty funny if you assume he's talking about poo.

[Episiarch]

I was talking about poo. What did you think I was talking about?

[Pro Libertate]

Pooh? Apocalypse Pooh>

"Honey. Shit. I'm still out of honey."

[Jim]

Watch out, Pooh, because I've seen you snatch that honey out of a tree and try to consume it raw. The gov't will stage a SWAT raid on your ass faster than you can finger Christopher Robin.

[Pro Libertate]

Christoper don't surf!

[PantsFan]

"Bother!" said Pooh, as he stuffed Piglet's corpse into a trash bag.

[BigT]

It's even funnier if you think he's talking about snatch.

[BakedPenguin]

PF, + 7 or so. Hilarious.

[rsi]

I don't see turtles anymore. I think its the chain link fences.

[Max]

Don't be part of the paranoid center.

[Sacre Bleu]

you're a neo-con hackjob

[Max]

Don't be part of the paranoid center.

[Old Mexican]

Mexican disciples of the Unabomber styiing themselves as "Individuals Tending Toward the Savage" are claiming credit.

Fuck, Ron - do you really believe they're anti-tech simpletons?

The State of Mexico has been governed for decades by what could be the most corrupt and kleptocratic cadre of thieving politicians to ever see the light of day. This is nothing more than urban terrorism, possibly sponsored by some leftist political party vying for power.

[Hazel Meade]

I'm thinking it's a hoax by a couple of really stoned teenagers.

As far as I have ever heard, nobody in Mexico gives a shit about nano-tech. They HAVE GOT to be making that shit up.

I think they just dug up a bunch of the most off-the-wall political bullshit they could find (in Mexico) and wrote a fake manifesto for the fun of it.

[Fred]

The Unabomber also claimed to be more than one person: "Freedom Club"

But he was just one lone wacko, not a political party, a movement or even a cult.

[dbcooper]

Sounds like Breivik and his "european cells."

[juris imprudent]

First rule of Freedom Club - no one else can join!

[jtuf]

It's getting to the point where terrorist attacks go on page 12 next to the drug war shootings.

[Brett L]

Fucking fuck. Anyone with a passing understanding of physical chemistry can tell you that at worst<?i>, gray goo is really green goo that can only threaten a biosphere. Shit that would find steel and concrete useful won't find people useful, etc. Unless its backed by a gigantic (GW scale) power source. But the precursors to that level of tech are at least a century away.

[Anonymous]

If we start getting Games Workshop scale power sources, we have bigger things to worry about than grey goo...

[Old Man With Candy]

I made some in my garage. No problem, it's contained, perfectly sa

[Warty]

The continuous development of technology will worsen the situation.
The bigger the system, the results will be disastrous failure.

Oh, Jesus Christ.

[Episiarch]

Just like the internet...oh wait.

[dbcooper]

Man, they have Unabomber types in Mexico!? That's some crazy, crazy shit.

[Hazel Meade]

Really?

No, Really?

This may the first time that MEXICO, of all fucking places, started a new totally fucked up luddite cult movement.

"Individuals tending towards the Savage" ?
Since when have the Mexicans, of all places, been the breeders of anarcho-primitivist-individualists?

Either these guys are a couple of isolated crazies who spend WAY too much time on American anachist websites, or my whole concept of Mexican culture has just been shattered.

What the fuck? Anti-nanotech Mexican primitivists?

Did someone open a wormhole between Eugene and Mexico city?

[Tingy Wah]

We'll be sorry if the grey goo scenario comes true? Only if it's reeeaaaaally slow. I always imagined it would overwhelm the world in a matter of minutes (minutes of matter?), with very little time to silently regret not listening to some Mexican hippies

[anomdebus]

Ask reason.com:

If I use vi, do I have blood on my hands?

[NotSure]

Nonsense, everyone knows that something as complex as the grey goo can only be done via emacs.

[dbcooper]

+1

[Amakudari]

The American neurologist Gary Small has said that the excessive use of the Internet causes damage in the functioning of the brain, along with altering the neural stimuli which make people lose their ability to start a face-to-face conversation."

To be fair, this is actually true of vi(m)/Emacs, though.

[Old Mexican]

Update: Readers can view the entire manifesto (in Spanish) here.

The whole "manifesto" is an unhinged rant against what the writers believe is nano-technology (I say what they believe because they never define it in any coherent way, nor do they explain exactly why it's enough of a worry to make and explode bombs in universities.)

This is my take: Like Hazel Meade, I think this is nothing more than a faux movement made up by a few stoned students that simply hate the Technical Institute of Monterrey (which we in Mexico call "El Tec")

This is one of the funniest parts:

"El neur?logo estadounidense Gary Small(t) ha dicho que el uso excesivo del internet causa da?os en el funcionamiento del cerebro, adem?s de que altera est?mulos neuronales que hace que las personas reduzcan sus aptitudes para entablar una conversaci?n cara a cara."

The American neurologist Gary Small has said that the excessive use of the Internet causes damage in the functioning of the brain, along with altering the neural stimuli which make people lose their ability to start a face-to-face conversation."

It's a good thing to read such warning in the Internet... which would contribute to my inability to maintain a face-to-face conversation, it would seem. It must also affect a person's ability to write coherent sentences, the above paragraph serving as evidence.

[Pro Libertate]

I met Eric Drexler once. Wonder if they've read his stuff?

[dbcooper]

Drexler should not have gotten a PhD, unless it was for developing a new device for science fiction.

[Brett L]

Engines of Creation did examine a lot of the fundamentals. Definite contribution to the canon of human knowledge, eh. He's done good work beating down the naysayers long enough for the field to bear fruit.

[Korben Dallas]

Update: Readers can view the entire manifesto (in Spanish) here.

I only speak two languages, English and bad English.

[Ken Shultz]

"I think this is nothing more than a faux movement made up by a few stoned students that simply hate the Technical Institute of Monterrey"

I suspect they might be serious; I just think they're probably like LulzSec--only violent.

Like LulzSec, I doubt most of the people who participate in attacks have a fundamental understanding of what they're protesting against or why. They have a general dislike for what XYZ corp. has done--and they want to be part of an attack...

It's just that in the case of these bombers, they've upped the ante and gone violent. I suspect that's the same thing that happens in all sorts of terrorist type attacks--the footsoldiers probably don't have a firm grasp of the issues they're fighting against.

Neither Lenin nor Mao nor Pol Pot had a real good grasp on economics, but that didn't mean their movements shouldn't have been taken seriously.

[sevo]

"Neither Lenin nor Mao nor Pol Pot had a real good grasp on economics, but that didn't mean their movements shouldn't have been taken seriously."

Uh, Ken, are you hinting we need another 'non-war' to raise our street cred in Mexico?
The one in Libya doesn't seem to be working like you predicted....

[Ken Shultz]

Actually, I was saying that just because these bombers may not know what they're talking about? Doesn't mean they're not dangerous. ...just like all the other crazed bombers out there who also mostly don't know what they're talking about.

As far as Libya's concerned, I don't have anything to add to what I wrote the other day. If you're so inclined, you should take a look at that thread from the other day starting right about here...and read down...

http://reason.com/archives/201.....nt_2446284

P.S. Considering all the problems with violence Mexico is having at the moment, I suspect this incident is probably pretty far down on their agenda.

[sevo]

"As far as Libya's concerned, I don't have anything to add to what I wrote the other day."

Good. You don't make any more sense than you have in the past.

[rsi]

Good ideer. another war

[Aqua Buddha]

I'm in a hotel room in Oklahoma City, and a bit drunk. Just sayin'.

[Jimmy Olsen]

I'm impressed that Mexico has ecoterrorists. I thought that was something that only overprivileged white people were involved in.

[Hazel Meade]

My thoughts in a more succinct form.

If Mexico has stupid youths with enough free time to worry about nanotechnology, something has gone right with the world.

[cynical]

Dammit, people, Deus Ex was a warning, not an instruction manual.

[Nipplemancer]

ThreadjackFullerton Police Chief takes indefinite medical leave
And the cockroaches start scattering now that the light is on.

[John David Galt]

Please. Terrorists do not claim credit. They admit blame.

[R C Dean]

Neither Lenin nor Mao nor Pol Pot had a real good grasp on economics, but that didn't mean their movements shouldn't have been taken seriously eradicated swiftly, preferably from orbit (just to ge sure).

I assume that's what you meant.

[Steve Smith]

I'm Steve Smith and I paid for this message.

[Edwin]

Am I the only one who realizes that the gray goo would make an AMAZING paint stripper?

[CBI]

Small correction: Monterrey is in the state of Nuevo Le?n, Mexico, not the state of Mexico.