While I was reading the “Unabomber’s Manifesto”, I was reminded of Second Skin. For example I would now describe gaming as a surrogate activity. Gaming is described as an activity that, “adequately satisfies no matter how much effort one makes” (17).  Why do people game for eight hours a day, rather than spend time with their children or with their spouses? The answer is because they are never satisfied. The development of technology as Kaczynski points out makes us feel that we need to have a goal and that we need to find a way to spend our time. Our time is spent in surrogate activities instead of how it we used to spend countless hours for instance on the farm trying to sustain our food supply. Our new goals are not necessary to sustain our life; they are fillers to distract us from things like the natural world. And while I engage in surrogate activities, I do not believe it is considered, “demeaning to fulfill one’s need for the power process through surrogate activities or through identification with an organization, rather then through pursuit of real goals” (26). Kaczynski goes on to discuss that surrogate activities define who we are instead of what really matters in life. People say they are gamers and I would say I am a lacrosse player, but this Kaczynski argues is because we have become over socialized. Our constant need to stay in touch with everyone around us makes us less of an individual and less autonomous. Our desire to identify with a larger organization partly clenches our need for power and/or goals (24). Surrogate activities and identifying with a big group act as a power process. Kaczynski argues that we used to fulfill the power process without these types of things because we could act autonomously. I disagree with Kaczynski and think that surrogate activities are useful. While I agree they make us over socialized and take us away from the natural world and maybe even real goals, I think surrogate activities provide us with healthy opportunities to make friends, discover things we are talented at, and are used as outlets from stress. I think that surrogate activities should be used in modernization as spending eight hours a day is too excessive, but I think these “non-real goals” are actually beneficial to our lives. For example if my surrogate activity is running and my goal is to be able to run a half marathon, I would spend countless hours outside in the summer working toward my goal. I believe this time spent outside (with the natural world) and fitness regime is beneficial. While Kaczynski thinks surrogate activities disrupt the power process, I think the benefits of certain activities outweigh the harmfulness of them. We might not be completely autonomous as Kaczynski would like, but we do discover our talents and potential through these activities. I would advocate for a healthy balance of surrogate activities and spending time alone to work on our problem of over socialization. Gamers should keep on gaming as long as it is in moderation.