Extropians and political views [Was: Re: The FAQ is completed!]

Max More (max@maxmore.com)
Sat, 20 Feb 1999 23:35:49 -0800

At 11:01 PM 2/20/99 -0500, you wrote:
>It's been rumored that on Sat, 20 Feb 1999, Natasha Vita-More wrote:
>>At 10:04 PM 2/20/99 +0000, Nick wrote:
>>
>>> I could replace that
>>>sentence with a direct quote from The Extropian FAQ: "Politically,
>>>extropians are close kin to the libertarians"
>>>(http://www.extropy.com/faq/whatis.html), if that is more accurate.
>>>What do you think?
>>
>>I think that sentence might better be taken out in both places.
>
>Hm. Does this mean that you and Max now (or always did?!) advocate
>the use of force for political purposes? Perhaps I have misunderstood you?

Yes, you've misunderstood, Randall. Extropianism, certainly as it is today, does not *require* you to be a libertarian (however exactly you define that). Extropianism is NOT a commitment to particular beliefs, and that includes the role of government. Many Extropians may call themselves libertarians (and mean fairly different things by it), but other may (perfectly legitimately) not.

ExI's FAQ entry on this was years old, and in need of revision to make this important point clear. I've just put up a revision that expresses the relationship of political views to extropianism at:

http://www.extropy.org/faq/govt.html

Max



Max More, Ph.D.
<max@maxmore.com> or <more@extropy.org>

Implications of Advanced Technologies
President, Extropy Institute: http://www.extropy.org EXTRO 4 Conference: Biotech Futures. See http://www.extropy.org/ex4/e4main.htm