From: Philip Goetz (philgoetz@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Mar 07 2006 - 10:56:59 MST
My understanding is that SL4 is not supposed to be an "all things
transhumanist" list. It's supposed to be focused on technology,
particularly artificial intelligence, particularly the dangers of
artificial intelligence.
My impression is that "meta" subjects are sniped. If "how to do X" is
an allowed discussion subject, "why should we do X?" is not.
Likewise, if X, Y, and Z are allowed topics of discussion, and are all
instances of category C, category C in the abstract may not be an
allowed topic.
Transhumanism shares some qualities of a cult. Certain beliefs are
held strongly in the face of evidence, and questioning them can get
one shouted down in a public forum (*cough* accelerating change)
(although leading transhumanist thinkers (at least the worker bees if
not the organizers and public-relations folks) are generally more
open-minded). Some, like the belief that IQ is the highest value in
life, are common among technophiles. Some are inherited from
Extropianism, which has strong affiliations with Ayn Rand and Julian
Simon and an actual anti-environment "kill the harp seals and pave the
earth" bent.
This last paragraph is an example of the sort of thing which is
tolerated as a brief digression on SL4, but wouldn't be allowed to
become a thread.
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