From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Sat Dec 21 2002 - 17:21:50 MST
On Sat, Dec 21, 2002 at 04:00:40PM -0800, Reason wrote:
>
> ---> Robert J. Bradbury
> >
> > It is worth noting that stem cell research is moving forward
> > in China at warp speed, entirely devoid of politics and spin
> > found in the U.S. so Extropians need not be overly concerned
> > with Kass & Co.
>
> I really don't think we can afford to let people like Kass go unchallenged.
> It's fairly clear where as to his ambitions lie in terms of hindering or
> preventing as much of this research as he can
I agree. Even if he can't stop Chinese researchers from doing useful
research he can slow or stop US research, and that is where most of the
research is done today. Even a local ban would slow things. And once you
have a local ban, why stop there? His stated views are universalist, and
Joy and Fukuyama are promoting ideas about how to go about implementing
restrictions worldwide. Suppose they could hook their anti-tech ideas to
the anti-terrorist bandwagon?
The way of stopping much of this is to mess up the field of debate by
showing that there are other views there, not just Kass and a slightly
sceptical mainstream, but also people like us who think we can use this
technology for powerful good stuff and that the downsides can be
handled. Once the policy field becomes wider Kass and his ilk will have
a much harder time. We might not get what we want either, but at least
the middle position isn't half negative any more but somewhere in the
center.
> My current thoughts on managable distributed activism run along the lines of
> letter writing campaigns to research facilities, corporations and funds
> putting money into this sort of thing. Tell them we appreciate what they're
> doing, want them to stand up to government luddites, think the government
> should mind their own business, and that we'll be first in line to buy real
> anti-aging products. I think that will do more good per letter than trying
> to talk to politicians.
This is a nice idea I hope we do (a friend at a political journal told
me that if they received more than two letters about an issue it
demonstrated to them that it was a relevant issue; OK, this is little
Sweden, but scale it up by twenty or so and you get the same effect in
the US). But I also think you are aiming at the wrong groups (with the
possible exception of the funders): these are end-users of ideas,
influenced by ideas in society and academia rather than the producers
and distributors of ideas.
To really get an effect we should aim to influence the "purveyors of
second-hand ideas" as Hayek put it, the intellectuals and pundits that
produce and magnify our culture's ideas. They range from the pure
academics to journalists. So start to write essays for journals, or even
better suitably controversial and interesting books. One can always
start by writing heartfelt letters to get one's writing style, then go
on writing articles for journals and websites, then essays and academic
publications. It is fun, and it has important effects.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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