From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Sat Dec 29 2001 - 18:06:47 MST
Kai Becker wrote:
>
You really should be more careful in your blanket assertions...
>
> - People buy guns because they feel unsafe, even if statistics show that
> most of them will never be victims of a violent crime - "just in case...".
Actually, I bought mine because I didn't want to be with out
them when the bureaucrats outlaw them completely and I wanted to
stand up to those who say "common" citizens should not be
trusted with such means of defense.
> - People believe in religions because they feel alone without and
> "empowered" with it, even if history provides no proven evidence for their
> beliefs - "just in case...".
To the extent I believe in such things it has nothing at all to
do with any sort of "just in case" thinking or with feeling
alone. It does provide some sense of extra empowerment but it
is not in the least a primary motivation.
> - People believe in cryonics and such because they fear to die, even if
> there's no evidence that they can reawake with their mind undamaged - "just
> in case...".
Actually, the fear of death and seeking to avoid it is certainly
fully rational unless one believes in an afterlife and perhaps
even then. While it hasn't been done yet a slim hope of future
revival is seen as better than no hope.
> - People believe in transhumanism to find comfort in the fiction of a
> better tomorrow, even if there is no rational basis for their theories -
> "just in case..."
This is one is utterly absurd. People are transhumanists
because they believe it is possible to transcend the current
human condition in various ways and are actively willing to
engage in the attempt to do so. Just believing in the
possibility with no work or support of work relevant to it or at
least spreading the meme of the possibility cannot possibly do
anyone any good so there is no "just in case".
> - etc.
>
By all means let us wave our hands and conjure up all other
pointless generalities in a similar vein.
- samantha
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