From: mlbowli1@cord.iupui.edu
Date: Wed Sep 04 1996 - 20:37:25 MDT
On Sun, 1 Sep 1996, Chris Hind wrote:
>
> >} 21st century. You will see alot of people getting REALLY smart REALLY fast
> >And if they don't worry about the people not adapting, someone's going
> >to be REALLY dead. I can't say which side it will be, of course.
> Let them eat cake. :) No, there would be a rebellion so we must develop
> memes to cram more info into the shallow minded. How about a Stacker meme to
> run on the brain and compress information? :) Here is an idea. We should
> list all the things (ie. trances) you can do by concentration and thinking
> as well as techniques that make memes highly contageous (sp?) and then
> create a meme such as the Gaia theory with an extropian twist to spread
> extropianism like a religion across the globe. Could work!
>
>
I believe it might work, but only if applied in layers. I can't say that
the extropian meme is more or less complex than a popular religion, or
even if it's more or less difficult to understand (if your bothered by
glaring contradictions, extropianism is easier to grasp simply because it
is possible to grasp!), where the general populace is concerned. I can
say that _being_ an Extropian is difficult insofar as it requires lots of
effort.
I'm new to the list and it is the first contact I've had with
Extropians. The extropian meme infected my mind (boy did it feel good!)
by way of the Wired vector in 1994. Though I have just recently made
contact with other Extropians, the past two years (roughly) have seen a
steady rate of-- pardon me as I show of my new vocabulary word--
automorphing. The word is new to me but the act is not.
In those two years, I have expended huge amounts of energy and effort to
get from then to now (i'll spareyou the details, but it was a long way).
And though I'm with you in spirit, I've got lots to learn. I have a
formidable stack of books on philosophy, pop- scienc, not to mention a
box full of Discover and Scientific American (not that I see Extropians
as strictly science oriented). All this and I still don't know what the
hell you folks are talking about sometimes-- you are hard-core! I look
forward to the challenge of getting up to speed.
Extropians are in a state of high energy. While for us this is a
desirable state, it is still unfavorable, and the populace is not exempt
from the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The extropian meme has the
undesirable trait, in terms of its replicability, of requiring lots of
energy to actualize, to become Extropian. To expect that sugar coating
hard work will make it desirable to the masses seems to me iffy at best,
not to mention that sugar coating may distort, or even pervert extropian
philosophy.
I suggest serving transhuman memes a spoon full at a time, each building
on the last, as opposed to unleasing a media onslaught. We may find that
humans, like amphibians, will be more receptive to a gradual increase of
energy and not turn the frying pan on us.
I look forard to learning with/from you. / you.
Up, up, and Away!
Michael Bowling
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