From: Rick Knight (rknight@platinum.com)
Date: Fri Jun 13 1997 - 10:51:43 MDT
In my original post I posed:
> Could the torch possibly be ready to pass from physical
> matter-bound immortality to a lighter energy form?
Anders Sandberg replied:
Personally I think this is the logical step, although I would not
call it a "lighter energy form" (that term in my opinion reeks of
cheap new age). I think information is the future. Information is of
course always implemented in matter or energy, but the point is that
it can be abstracted and copied into new matrices (this shows me to
be a believer in the Strong AI Hypothesis); information is the
"light energy" which can be easily transferred, stored, mutated and
evolved.
I respond:
Don't take this the wrong way (i.e. defensively) but I continue to
find it intriguing how certain terms are a sure-fire trigger for this
group. While there are plenty of topics in the heap of dogma branded
"New Age", I see nothing illogical, inappropriate or even
simple-minded about a description like "lighter energy form". Mass
wise, this is a no-brainer.
When a judgment like this is slapped on a term because of its
associative meanings with ideologies (apprently) incongruous with
extropian thinking, I immediately am compelled to leave the main topic
and explore the reflexive nature of such a response such as "cheap new
age". A little trite and unnecessary in intellectual discourse except
to clarify a discomfort or prejudice. And if that was necessary, I'm
intrigued to drill down into the "why".
Rick
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