From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Mon Dec 24 2001 - 17:05:38 MST
pchaston wrote:
> However, there are millions who are too poor, too uneducated and too
> immersed in their own culture to have been given their opportunity to
> consider the paths of knowledge that we take for granted. We cannot perceive
> these individuals or their cultures as contributing in any way to the
> futures discussed on this list in the short or medium term (and I note
> Robert J Bradbury's radical and thought-provoking essay on Afghanistan when
> he looked at this problem).
The essay left much to be desired but I did not choose to take
it apart then or now so let us leave that. I think that it is
judgemental in the extreme and dangerous to claim that we can
tell which cultures and people will have nothing at all to
contribute to the fture we dream of. Many here have very
limited (in my view) ideas about what is and is not of value in
human cultures. Let us see these things work out for themselves
as we do what we can to spread the benefits of the expanding
capabilities and knowledge to all. People are not utterly
stuck with only their current mindsets from their current
culture. Given a bit of opportunity, many people change and
grow.
>
> Do we accept that those "luddites", who are too poor and unschooled to
> understand the aims and goals of Transhumanism, the Singularity Institute or
> Extropianism, will follow on their own path of development decades or
> centuries after the West and that we cannot guarantee that they will also be
> lifted by the technological tsunami.
>
I don't accept calling these people "luddites" or any other
depracatory term. They are our siblings and we can, if we will
it, do much to benefit both them and ourselves in ways that will
maximize our (all of our) growth into our full potential. By
the nature of what is coming all people will be affected unless
we create virtual or actual enclaves. Some may choose such if
they have a choice. But we need to assure that no one chooses
for others as much as possible.
- samantha
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