From: Ben Goertzel (ben@goertzel.org)
Date: Tue Jun 05 2001 - 08:23:21 MDT
> Ben Goertzel wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Strange. I found his criticisms spot on. People are in denial here if
> > > they don't see that Extropian looks rather odd, cult like and even new
> > > agey to outsiders. There's a lot of groupthink that goes on here.
> >
> > Indeed. I've made this point many times on this list, finding
> each time a
> > rather mixed reception
>
> Hm, I think you don't "get it". You must not be "in" yet.
Sorry, I wasn't precise enough in my response.
I don't think that Extropy is *anything* like a cult, in actual fact
What I was agreeing with was the statement that it often *looks* this way to
outsiders.
And I think that this appearance is hard to avoid. One has to work to avoid
it, it comes automatically from being a moderately coherent group of
like-minded out-of-the-mainstream people.
>From reading the documents on the Extropy website, Extropy looks a lot
*more* cultlike than it does from reading this list, however. For instance,
the website states certain principles to which all extropians must adhere.
I don't adhere to all of them, and yet, I find myself in sympathy with
almost all the extropian ideas, and having a lot in common with the others
on this list, etc. I do not find myself being cast out for my lack of
intellectual obedience. (If I am chased out of Extro 5 by a posse of
knife-wielding libertarians, then I will perhaps change my view though ;)
> Being respected by the mainstream would be a useful child goal of the
> continuing effort to mess with things that humanity was not meant to know,
> but it shouldn't be allowed to distract us from the main issue.
It would be very useful for bringing in MONEY to do cool projects.... Also,
of course, it would help us to have some influence over politicians, perhaps
causing there to be slightly fewer stupidly restrictive laws in the short
term...
ben
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