RE: Ad hominem? I think not.

From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Wed Nov 21 2001 - 08:42:41 MST


Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote,
> I AM TIRED OF SEEING EXTROPIANS CALLING EACH OTHER NAMES.
> We're supposed to be smarter than this.

The above factor has been one the most depressing considerations in my life
for the last few years. I have fantasies that a group of higher
intelligence can form and accomplish great things. However, the history of
this and other groups seems to prove otherwise.

While some people have manic/depressive moodswings, I have
optimistic/pessimistic mood swings. Sometimes I think my pessimism is
winning. If we can't even hold discussions civilly without resorting to
name-calling, I doubt we can ever accomplish some of our more advanced
goals.

Internal politics seems to be the biggest threat to all our plans. Even
with the current terrorist threats, I see petty bickering as a more
immediate threat and more likely to destroy my future plans that the larger
but rarer events.

--
Harvey Newstrom <www.HarveyNewstrom.com>
Principal Security Consultant, Newstaff Inc. <www.Newstaff.com>
Board of Directors, Extropy Institute <www.Extropy.org>
Cofounder, Pro-Act <www.ProgressAction.org>


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:12:04 MST