Emlyn wrote:
>
> 1)
>
> There are a lot of good coders / IT people on this list. The best evidence
> is when someone asks a computer related question; the barrage of responses
> is quite overwhelming.
>
> I bet it's boring as batshit for those who don't earn a crust this way,
> however.
>
> I've often wanted to ask tech questions on list, but hesitated because
> that's not the list's purpose. I'm going out on a limb and assuming that
> this is possibly not an uncommon experience.
>
> Should we (or someone) start an Extro IT self help list? So that all us
> geekazoids can gather round, share knowledge, and beat each other over the
> head on fine points of technical dogma? It'd be fun, and probably damned
> useful.
>
Well, I don't think so. Some of the tech stuff on here is what makes
the list interesting and lively. I don't see anyone being offended by
it in any case.
> 2)
>
> The other thing this list is good at is answering science-related questions.
> As an idea for positive PR, has anyone considered starting a website for
> answering technical/science related questions, possibly aimed at younguns? A
> lot of young people have questions to ask, and the people hereabouts answer
> such questions in not only informative, but fairly entertaining ways.
>
> Such a site could be an amalgam of website based forum & mailing list
> (giving people the opportunity to access it in either style), and would
> involve giving answers on a strictly voluntary basis (much as happens here
> already). Think of it as a service to the community, and an excellent way to
> increase exposure of extropian ideas which, after all, are supposed to be
> driven by facts and reasonable predictions. The most common experience here
> is that people come to >H ideas by processing the information available to
> them in their environment, and seek out Transhumanism or Extropianism after
> they are already converts. So, to spread the word, we would be best served
> in spreading information. And my bet is that the most likely demographic to
> adopt these ideas of an amazingly changed future are young people; those
> without much attachment to the way things are.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
Why nail down the technical form of the list early? Such a list is a
good idea but there are already broad efforts to do this type of thing.
Is another needed? Does it necessarily have to do with Extropians? Is
it a front for pulling people in? If so then it seem a bit less than
honest. Now an extropian outreach to the young (or young of mind <g>)
seems reasonable enough.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:21 MDT