From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Fri Jun 09 2000 - 14:33:40 MDT
> What it seems to come down to is: do you think extropianism is what
> is defined by Max with his principles, or do you think what really
> matters is each person's own definition?
I don't argue about definitions; no rational person does. While I'm
the one who argues that E-prime does more harm to language and clear
thought than good, its application here is useful: "What IS an
extropian" is meaningless, without content. The proper question is
"How should people best use the word 'extropian' to describe people".
Max's E/e distinction might be useful; the similar treatment of
L/libertarian does help clarify debates in that camp. I think it
also helps to spread ideas when the words are used more broadly.
I have no problem with subsets of the principles being popularised
with the use of a term that might otherwise describe them all, so
long as the ideas do get spread effectively and the word is not
diluted too much.
The human mind is used to interpreting unadorned adjectives as
fuzzy descriptions. If you want a non-fuzzy word for "someone who
espouses ALL the principles", I think the clearest, most honest, useful
term is "extropian purist".
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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