> What I'm trying to say is that memes *mutate* over time. If
> unadulterated Extropianism isn't popular, it *will* mutate into
> something that is. Not, perhaps, in stages as drastic as those depicted
> above.
Exactly. And this is IMHO a good thing, if we can make sure the basic
memes (self-transformation, longevity, tolerance, optimism) can be coded
so simply that they will not mutate much themselves, while their "coat"
memes evolve into something powerful.
> Can Extropianism win? From my perspective, no, frankly, because like
> the Marxists, you offer nothing to replace the energies you have
> removed. In Marxism, they took away the profit-motive and didn't
> replace it, so nothing got done. If you remove all moralizing and
> self-righteousness and coercion and victimization and resentment and so
> on, nothing is left to propel the meme forward. Extropianism isn't
> quite so morality-free, which is why it survives, but it still has
> nothing to replace the power-engines it has forsaken.
That was a good point. But extropianism (and transhumanism) can probably
create new power-engines and ways of focussing human emotions: digital
communities, divergent versions of humanity, blaming everything on the
entropians :-) Other examples?
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Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
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