April 5, 1996: Technology, Violence, & the IRS - Open Lines
The broadcast takes up Marlon Brando's appearance on Larry King Live, where the actor urged genetic engineering research to remove violence from the human species. Art Bell questions whether eliminating the violence gene would also strip away passion, drive, jealousy, and ambition. Callers debate whether aggression is inseparable from the human spirit. A caller shares an unsolved murder story involving a schizophrenic brother, drawing parallels to the Unabomber family's agonizing decision to contact the FBI.
Art Bell announces an ambitious project to lease time on a former Eastern Bloc shortwave transmitter running a million watts or more, bouncing the signal via a mid-Atlantic satellite to bring the program to a global audience.
Key Moments
Helena hotel records - 25 visits since 1982: The Good Friday update: Kaczynski is now in a Helena, Montana jail and waived hearings. Investigators have linked him to a Helena hotel he visited on 25 occasions since 1982, with bombs detonating elsewhere - typically postmarked from California - soon after each stay.
Typewriter match - 'the big break of the day': Art reports the day's biggest development: one of the manual typewriters seized at the cabin appears to the FBI to match the typewriter used to type the Unabomber manifesto. He notes the $1 million reward and uncertainty about whether it goes to the family.
Bell on the manifesto: living the life he preached: Art says he has read the manifesto and that Kaczynski 'rages against modern technology - the very kind of things I'm using here.' He raises his recurring question: is technology moving faster than society's ability to assimilate it, while still calling the violence wrong.