From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Sun Jan 14 2001 - 23:05:03 MST
THE CLOCK OF THE LONG NOW (1999), p. 52:
`Future dark ages are always possible. The technological Singularity could
generate one--what if whatever we transition to doesn't work out?'
pp. 112-3:
`There are futurists, like Drucker, and those who pretend to be futurists:
*futurismists*, exuding *futurismo*.
`Futurismists are not bad people, and certainly not fraudulent. If anything
they are captive of their goodness... Some hive off into sectlike groups,
such as the Extropians--a 01990s [sic; Brand's little quirk] California
enclave of bright and enthusiastic Singularity advocates who could hardly
wait for the techno-Rapture. They have a classic case of what Paul Saffo
calls *macro-myopia*: "we overexpect dramatic developments early, and
underexpect them in the longer term".'
Damien Broderick
[not a Californian, not a sectarian]
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