From: Chris Russo (extropy@russo.org)
Date: Tue Dec 05 2000 - 14:51:36 MST
>And THIS is exactly why libertarians won't ever be a real force in American
>politics. Almost universally every libertarian I know (including me,
>most of the
>time) comes off as a self-righteous know-it-all, acting as though
>everyone else
>is beneath them. We all seem to say "If only they could see what we see, but
>they're not bright enough, so we'll have to make them do it anyway."
You might want to reread my argument. You're woefully misstating it.
I proposed nowhere "to make them do it anyway." To the contrary, I
talked about coincidental goals building a coalition of voters. The
more cerebral voters will probably appreciate the strong logic
underlying everything, and the less cerebral will probably only be
able to appreciate the shiny baubles that extend from that underlying
logic.
I'm basically saying to not turn away those voters just because they
don't understand the bigger picture. I'm also saying that if we're
waiting for a plurality to understand the bigger picture, we're
doomed.
Take the Internet as an analogous example. With the existence of
cheap broadband, a lot of services become available that can help to
push mankind's level of technology forward - services like: online
databases of genes, tele-surgery demonstrations, massively parallel
shared computing resources (SETI @Home), and just the general
availability of scientific information.
Did the cheap broadband become available because consumers wanted to
use and fund these services?
Of course not. An extraordinarily minor amount of Internet traffic
(and corresponding funding dollars) comes from such noble scientific
endeavors.
Most Internet broadband funding comes from people wanting to see
porn, send email to their friends, trade mp3's, and check sports
scores.
Those more "superficial" uses of the Internet make it financially
possible for the higher-level scientific work to occur.
So, far from saying, "people are stupid so we'll have to make them do
it", I'm saying that we should take advantage of coincident goals
where possible with voters of various intelligences, so that we can
at least move things in overall the best direction.
Regards,
Chris Russo
--
"If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought
or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet
hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance
which does harm."
-- Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONS, VI, 21
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