From: Chris Fedeli (fedeli@email.msn.com)
Date: Wed Jun 16 1999 - 10:06:46 MDT
Extropic smoker here, pack a day at least. For explanation,
I'll affiliate myself with the evocative comments made
earlier by Rob Harris about life-span length vis-a-vis
orgasm vs. nuts getting thrashed in an electric flail. And
I share Gina Miller's lazy attitude too - nanobots can clean
up my lungs down the road.
For the record, I'm not just a smoker. I'm a smoke
enthusiast. I love not only the nicotine, but the momentary
crackle of the paper as I light up and take that first,
delicate puff; the glow of the slowly burning tobacco as I
hold the cigarette between my fingers; the warmth that fills
my throat and lungs as I breathe in the aroma; and the
billowy clouds of smoke that waft past my screen when I
exhale.
A nicotine patch is no replacement for the interaction with
fire and heat that form a central part of the smoking
experience. And even all of the physical components of
smoking don't fully capture the significance of the act for
most addicts. Cigarette smoking has always had social and
cultural implications, and it continues to do so. In the
United States, public smoking remains an effective way to
demonstrate one's fashionable contempt for bourgeous values
and attitudes, as residually puritain as they still are.
Extropianism has a lot to do with rejecting mainstream
values, so it doesn't surprise me in the least to see the
number of list members who admit to partaking in the joy of
demon tobacco. Of course there are other, less physically
risky ways of demonstrating antagonism, but few of them
carry that distinctly civilized brand of rebelliousness that
has always been associated with smoking. So let's all light
up for the singularity :)
Chris Fedeli
"Only smoking distinguishes humans from the rest of the
animals."
-Anonymous
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