From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Fri Sep 06 2002 - 17:16:44 MDT
On Fri, 6 Sep 2002, Simon Smith, quoting Alex Ramonsky [I think] wrote:
> "...Last weekend, I introduced a friend to the ExI list (ie I let her
> read all the most recent posts over the last month or so) because she
> most definitely believes in the extropian principles but didn't know
> there were any such groups as this one. I thought she would be delighted
> to find some like-minds to talk to. She said, (I quote)..."This is a
> list about politics, mostly american politics. I'm interested in
> cryonics, longevity, calorie restriction, the possibility of uploading
> and stuff. Okay, these subjects are mentioned sometimes, but I couldn't
> wade through all that politics. It's like panning for gold, but there's
> _so much_ sand!"
The solution to this is simple *don't* subscribe people to the Extropian
list -- point them at the Javien "Conversations" list:
http://forum.javien.com/conversations.php?goend=true&topicdata=extropians
You can then easily review the "topic" of the conversation *and* how
many messages have been posted. If the # of messages is very low
then it may be a topic of little interest. If the # of messages is
very high then it may be either (a) an important topic or (b) a
volatile topic. If its a volatile topic, then the start date is
likely to be recent -- if its a long term interest topic (less
volatile) then the start date should be weeks or even months older.
Conversations which have an intermediate number of messages with
topic titles of interest will lure people into the swamp.
I routinely use both the Javien Forum to surf the ExI list
and then use that information to determine which messages I
actually reply to from my Email subscription. [Replying from
Email within the J.F. seems to send things to individuals
rather than the list - though I'm willing to be corrected if
this impression is wrong.]
> It quickly becomes apparent, however,
> and you should point this out to your friend, that politics (albeit not only
> American, but that's okay because I'm Canadian) is extremely important. If
> governments ban cryonics (the way British Columbia has) or mind uploading,
> for example, discussing the technology of cryonics or mind uploading will
> become intellectual masturbation.
I'll note that so long as I continue to live in Seattle, any BC transhumanists
seeking to avoid state facism should contact me about dying on U.S. soil.
I'm not sure that eliminates the problem but its a step in the right direction.
> For Transhumanism to make any *real* progress in the *real* world I think
> we have to address the political as well as the technological.
A good point for sure.
Ultimately we are back into the problem of "rating" the posts.
The Slashdot software has a system for this but it probably requires
tens of thousands of subscribers. So long as the ExI list remains
at the level of hundreds -- it, or the Javien "rating" system, are not
going to work. So long as there isn't a rating system the list will
not attract tens of thousands of subscribers. Catch-22.
R.
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