From: dalec@socrates.berkeley.edu
Date: Tue Jan 06 1998 - 11:50:13 MST
On 6 Jan 1998, Anders Sandberg wrote:
> By now I think it is fairly clear that extropianism is more of a
> kalyptic strategy than a regal strategy. Our memes are directed
> towards making our lives happier, more efficient and futuristic, often
> being based on cooperation with other, related memes. While there are
> plenty of people to persuade about extropianism, only a relatively
> small subset are likely to become extropians which suggests the need
> to invest more energy in creating convincing and useful
> meme-offspring.
This seems exactly right. And I agree that kalyptic extropianism (say,
"lifestyle extropianism") is indeed pleasant and useful for its
participants. But one gets the impression from more strident postings to
the list here and there, that a number of people feel that there is
already a "regal extropianism" they are a part of. This has always
confused me, and I have been curious to hear about what it consists of
exactly.
The details have been slow to emerge. However, I am beginning
to think that there *is* a place for a regal mode of extropianism (say,
"movement extropianism"). This is not because I think any of us are
looking to "belong" to an orthodoxy -- that's something surely most of us
would resist. But I think that the preoccupations of "lifestyle
extropianism" produce certain perceptions and sensitivities that put
extropians in a position to see the world and especially the onrushing
future with unique insights. We see promises and dangers that few people
are thinking about (isn't that what draws us here in the first place?)...
and this means we are in a position to strategize in the face of that
future in completely unique ways.
The agenda emerging from this strategizing could very well yield
the regal extropianism you speak of. Of course, kalyptic and regal
extropianism would comfortably coexist, and there would be no necessity to
choose the one over the other, or to demand that the one evolve or devolve
into the other. If kalyptic strategies are indeed as vulnerable as you
suggest, perhaps one of the functions of regal extropianism would be
precisely to protect kalyptic extropianism as a free lifestyle from
memetic competitors in the first place, despite its necessary and
delightful resistence to the hierarchization and hardening of the
orthodoxies that works to preserve other meta-memetic regimes (e.g.,
religions, justice discourses, etc).
Best, Dale
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