From: Aaron Davidson (ajd@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca)
Date: Wed Feb 24 1999 - 22:13:12 MST
>In a message dated 2/24/99 6:04:42 PM, you wrote:
>
><<
>In attempting to create a theology appealing to extropians or to define what
>such a thing would be like, you'd have to include some reason that it is
>better than no theology at all. Since extropians seek to increase
>efficiency, you'd have to avoid advocating something that is a waste of time
>and other resources. It would have to involve some sort of useful shortcut
>to thinking. You must avoid creating a meme that masks possibilities and
>ways of arriving at those possibilities. Most religions that I have come
>across do not come close to meeting these criteria. They also fall prey to
>the aesthetic problems that you state above.
>
>Would you say that a theology requires some strong positive belief? If so, I
>suspect that no theology you create could be consistent with extropianism.
>
>Why is a cosmology and value system centered around a god better than one
>which isn't?
>
>
>--
>Jason Spencer
>spencer@ualberta.ca
>>>
>
>Great questions, Jason. Does Force equal mass times acceleration? Does
>Energy equal mass times the square of the velocity of light? Does God need
>any more justification than that, if he does, in fact, exist?
>
>This last point is the question isn't it? Does God exist? Not does he make
>things better.
>
>I asserted in another message that God is the enevitable product of a
>technological civilization if it lasts long enough. Tell me why that's wrong?
>
>Adrian Spidle
Woah now. Meow? Flistgerblizit? Gerxzlebragt? Comparing theology and god to
laws of physics (or at least approximations thereof) in this case makes no
sense. What I believe Jason is saying is that no one has given any good
reason for an extropian to waste his time and take the effort to cultivate
theology memes. Obviously, the extropian wants to be efficient, and to have
a sound memeset. What would be the purpose of introducing the concept of a
god? What purpose does it serve? Believing in F=MA is very useful for the
average extropian, myself included. I also feel it is important to know
that E=MC^2.
What is the utility served by theology in an extropian context?
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| Aaron Davidson | <ajd@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca> |
| Silicon Creek Software | <http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~davidson/> |
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