From: Steve Butts (sbutts@purdue.edu)
Date: Tue Oct 12 1999 - 00:07:02 MDT
"D.den Otter" wrote:
> Teach rationalism in school (arguments against religion etc.
> should be mandatory classes). If parents try to sabotage this,
> they should receive a stern warning, after which their ass
> would be kicked with appropriate force.
This is a great idea, up until the arguments against religion. First
of all, parents have every right to have a say in their child's
education even if you think it's the wrong ideas. Although I'm just as
against religion as most people on the list I don't think even
rationally bashing religion is called for. We have a separation of
church and state, and teaching or bashing religion has no place in a
publicly funded school.
> Increase funding for nanotech, genetic engineering
> and other (potentially) transhuman technologies.
Who's funding this money? I certainly hope it's not the government.
> Cryonics to receive X billion research budget and
> full legal status (recognized as a potentially life-saving
> procedure, so no more autopsies, delays in hospitals
> or other bureaucratic, deathist nonsense).
Again, who's funding the money? I'd love to see the cryonics field
get the billions of dollars it so deserves, but I'd rather do it without
a huge tax increase. And I'd rather do it without stealing the money
from the religious devote who want nothing to do with cryonics.
> Abolition of work through extensive automation. The aim is
> to have generous standard welfare for everyone, while those
> who want more can have their own (liberal) sub-economy.
>
> Taxes are gradually abolished as level of automation increases.
> State plays (responsible) pimp and dope dealer (etc.) to
> partially finance the transition from wage slave society to
> automated welfare society.
Where's the money gonna come from to fix or upgrade the automations
over time since there are no taxes?
You want to make victimless crimes legal, yet you want to strong-arm
them into paying for a national economy overhaul. Some how I don't
think people that are currently evading taxes are gonna want to start
coughing up all the money that is needed. Not to mention that fact that
you're building a nation of the backs of the addicted, exploited, and
poor.
> Make tiered voting system; the more tax you pay (or in some
> other way contribute to society), the more voting points you
> get. Actually you'd want to create a kind of meritocracy/
> technocracy. The right to vote is something that has to be
> earned, just like a driver's license.
This idea is just plain crazy. What happens to the great tiered voting
system when there aren't any more taxes like you said above? Who gets
to decide who's ideas or whatnot "contributes" the most to society, how
to do you in tier when the tier's haven't been defined yet.
Your whole plan is absurd. Money comes out of no where, people's
freedoms are destroyed just so you can get your "right" ideas to be in
the mainstream, and millions of hard working people get on the dole
provided by the few addicted and exploited.
-- How about instead we teach children critical rationalism, self
worth, and rewarding them for their hard work.
-- We try to get the government out of the funding business as much as
possible and instead promote special interest organizations that we can
freely choose to donate our money to.
-- I'm sure a lot of other Extropian's will disagree with me here but I
don't agree with an eye for an eye punishment. I whole heartily agree
with self-defense. If a person is met with force and if they choose
they have every right to respond by force. Don't Extropian's champion
self transformation? Wouldn't it be denying that person's right to
change by killing them after the crime? Sure the money has to be
accounted for to pay for all this, but I'd rather be a cheap person
financially than a cheap and hypocritical person ethically by condoning
death sentencing. Of course this has and will continue to be a constant
debate.
-- I'm quite skeptical about the whole "abolishment of work".
Personally I think a world without work would be pretty boring, I seem
to get a lot of fulfillment and fun out of working. I also think a good
deal of work needs some type of consciousness. Something that can
create, explore possible solutions, and employ creativity to solving
them. And if you got a group of conscious machines that aren't getting
paid you got a race of slaves. Abolishment of work is just a warm fuzzy
utopian idea that will never probably work.
Your whole plan is really just a debate about right vs left politics.
But all I wanted to do is respond to your rather poorly thought out
ideas.
.. Steve Butts
.. sbutts@purdue.edu
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