"John Marlow" <johnmarlow@gmx.net> writes:
> >From a strictly practical standpoint, I don't think their stance,
> if any, will be significant because they don't comprise a
> significant portion of the "tech pool" and lack the influence to
> affect development and applications.
Will that situation last? Remember that educations levels in the world
are rising fast, and you will find quite a few moslems in academia in
the West too (when digging up the URL I posted earlier in this thread
I had problems filtering out all research papers written by somebody
with 'Islam' in their name). Also, being technologically leading is
not the only way of being influential in world politics and culture;
oil, being 25% of the population and having a growing cultural
identity can definitely be significant. If 25% of the customers want
something, there will be a big market of developing it.
> Violent opposition, on the other hand, could have significant
> effects.
Why? Islam is not more likely to be dangerously violent than
Christianity, and beside some fundie-bashing on this list I don't
think many of us consider the Church to be a major factor in
influencing the future of humanity?
Let's keep to the subject: how does Islamic religion and culture
interpret and deal with transhumanist issues?
I think one factor that also should be studied here is the view of the
relationship of the individual to society and the world at large; this
is very culturally dependent, and the Enlightenment individualism we
are grounded in here on this list is very different from what you find
in other cultures. This could actually turn out to be one of the major
stumbling blocks for spreading transhumanist ideas.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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