From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Tue Aug 20 2002 - 02:00:16 MDT
Given that I'm informed mostly by my recent reading of the available
chapters of Gatto's history of education, I am at a loss to see how
libertarianism and utopianism can be reconciled. They seem at odds to
me. Is this a possible strange loop within extropianism?
That is, I see a libertarian utopia as either solitary (where we each
exist in different universes) or highly chaotic and unstable (anything
goes). My reading of such is limited to S.R. Delaney's _Triton_, and
that was many years ago. (Not to mention a struggle to parse, with
seemingly quite a few paragraphs ending in four closing parentheses. No
doubt this influenced my own stilted writing style). Possibly some
Heinlein will count, but I recall mostly struggle toward such, not
long-term issues where stability is paramounted. Maybe libertarian
utopias can only exist on the frontier?
For long-term stability, it seems the only options are an oppressive
capitalist (oppressive to the point of fascism) or a 'true' communist
utopia. In which case the latter may be preferred. Perhaps extropianism
should embrace socialism as an indirect approach to get people to flee
from the planet?
I have in preparation a longer essay on this, but for the moment I am
seeking additional reading which directly addresses this (to me)
apparent paradox, that libertarianism and utopianism cannot peacefully
coexist in any but short-term conditions. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
-Mike
--
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:16:16 MST