Re: Relativism of values, ideas, rights, memes (was Open Letter to Gina Miller)

From: Loree Thomas (loreetg@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon May 27 2002 - 18:44:41 MDT


--- Lee Corbin <lcorbin@tsoft.com> wrote:
> Yes, I concur. Fundamentally, it's a question of
> respect.
> Just how do you regard people who reject the
> Extropian
> Principles?

That depends entirely on WHY they reject them...

I can see each of your given reactions (and many
others as well) being legitimate responses to a
rejection of the Extropian Principles.

> (a) they are as wrong as if they were to claim 2 + 2
> = 5, or to claim that the Earth is hollow, or to
> claim that telepathy has been shown to work.

If they reject them only because they do not "believe"
in them then yes they are as wrong as if they were to
claim 2+2=5.

> (b) they are *unreasonable*, in the sense that they
> have failed to reason correctly. They should be
> regarded as wayward students, who may one day
> surmount the various logical and scientific
> errors that plague them.

If they explain how the extropian principles are
valueless using faulty logic, erroneous assumptions
and/or incorrect facts, then this is the appropriate
attitude.

> (c) they have differing values from us, but values
> that can be objectively shown to resemble the
> values of backward-looking, religious,
atavistic,
> authoritarian, nihilistic, or harmful systems of

> the past.

If they dismiss them out of hand based on
christianity, marxism or some other "
backward-looking, religious, atavistic, authoritarian,
nihilistic, or harmful systems of the past" then this
would be the appropriate reaction, no?

And so on...

Loree

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