RE: Confronting The Singularity Conference

From: phil osborn (philosborn@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Jun 05 2000 - 22:50:23 MDT


>From: "Don Klemencic" <klemencc@sgi.net>
>Subject: RE: Confronting The Singularity Conference
>Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 23:23:37 -0400
>
>I think you would want portable partitions to absorb sound. The cross-talk
>between different discussion groups was an annoyance at the conference.
>Like
>you I most enjoyed the informal discussions. Meeting some of the people who
>post on this list was very enjoyable also.
>
> Don Klemencic
>
I think that recording everything would be a good idea, too. The great
advantage that a facility like this has is the permanence. You can go back
to it at your liezure (as if) and rethink an argument or look up a
reference. You lose that when it's just a verbal exchange realtime.

On the other hand, I've seen some verbal exchanges that should have been
recorded for all time, like the debate over objectivity between David
Kennison and Michael "Chaunticleer" Green at the First Southern Libertarian
Conference in Atlanta in 1971. It started as an informal exchange at a
party and ended up lasting literally all night. Both participants had major
knowledge of the philosophical issues and genius+ level IQs. Both of them
were extremely well versed in science as well and could have taken part in
any of the Extropian discussions you see here now, without dropping a
stitch. At about 7AM the next morning, Kennison - the objectivist -
triumphally declared "A is A!", winning the debate.

By then, virtually every luminary of the libertarian movement was crowded
into the room, hanging on every syllogism. If it had been recorded, it
would have been the set piece or paradigm for a whole lot of intellectual
inquiry, and saved a huge amount of time that I saw wasted as lessor
intellects rehashed the same issues over the years, blundering around and
committing every fallacy imaginable.
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