From: Chen Yixiong, Eric (cyixiong@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Oct 13 2001 - 21:25:04 MDT
> Yes, it has to happen sooner rather than later ....
> human-beens are proving themselves unfit
> to run the planet, and we POSTHUMANS
> need to organise politically in order to push
> forward our radical futurist agenda.
I agree, but I won't dare to call myself post-humans yet (especially not at this primitive level of technology).
> As an evolutionist rather than a revolutionary
> philosophy I think it is consistent to work within
> the current democratic political framework and
> contend ELECTIONS for political power and as
> a platform for spreading our message. Why not?
I don't wish to argue whether a progressive verses revolutionary tactic would work better, but bear in mind that in the past human
history (and even in the history of evolution) events do happen that have a more revolutionary nature than a progressive one,
bringing in an era of great change.
The old system (as any political system in the era of stability) supports the continuation of the current way of living, and thus a
society modelled on the previous lower rates of change could not easily adapt to new changes. In this way, one should abondon the
old system and work out a new better one to achieve further progress.
I compare to a progressive to attempting to upgrade a 286-16Mhz computer to the limits of its technology where it still cannot
perform adequately, when I can easily purchase a new AMD 1Ghz computer for less than a thousand dollars with much better
capabilities than that upgraded 286.
Personally, I won't waste my time attempting to convince the masses of the benefits of Extropian lifestyles, because I think we
would achieve relatively little with this. One would have to content with many irrelevant factors and tasks even if one gets
elected, and the process by no means permit one to achieve election easily.
To convince the masses would prove difficult too. We already saw what happened to some farmers planting GM foods or to some doctors
performing abortions. Apparently, public opinion of a close minded nature has high resilience to change.
I suggest again (though I know it would probably fall on deaf ears) that we sould concentrate on building a colony and creating the
technologies to bring Transhuman living into our lives, while placing a lower priority on PR. When we can show others how the actual
implemention of a Transhuman lifestyle looks like, we do not need so many words to convince others. Rather than thinking of helping
others, we ought to consider what we ourselves had done and can do, to ensure our success so that at least we ourselves can succeed.
> I intend to stand for UK parliament in central
> London where I am living, and encourage others
> to stand on a POSTHUMAN ticket in their own
> localities.
Good luck to you. I hope you will prove me wrong and succeed in convincing enough people to make a difference.
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:11:21 MST