From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Thu Aug 09 2001 - 22:38:42 MDT
Lee Corbin wrote:
>
> Eliezer has gotten impatient with the discussion of
> racism. Don't you understand how much progress will
> have been made if known extremists from each end
> actually have calm, reasoned discussions free from
> name-calling, ad hominem, and caricaturizing?
None whatsoever. Martin Luther King handled 90% of the problem. Almost
all of the remainder will be wiped out by the Singularity. Even ignoring
the Singularity factor, we're currently seen politically driven
overcompensations striving against politically driven backlashes, at which
point effort is worse than nothing and it's time to shut up and ignore the
problem out of existence. Paying attention is only exacerbating the
continued perception of humanity as divided into groups by skin color.
The glowing promise of the future consists of the next generation growing
up not knowing that racism ever existed until they reach high school,
followed by the Starbellied Sneech Scenario once the requisite level of
bodily modification becomes possible.
And if discussion were necessary, it doesn't need to happen on
Extropians! We're talking about infusing the body with respirocytes and
growing extra pairs of arms, not to mention transcending Homo sapiens the
species; it is BENEATH us to notice someone's skin color even for the sake
of discussing why we don't care about it! We are finished! Over! Done
with! We've walked over the hills and under the seas so far beyond the
realm where skin color is noticeable that it is backsliding even to notice
that we're not noticing it!
So kill the thread and talk about Matrioshka Brains for a change, before
we get so far off-topic that the Powers couldn't find us with a radio
telescope.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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