Max More writes:
"[The belief that force should not be used except
Perhaps upon reaching the decrepit old age of 30, my mind is beginning
to fail me. But I *was* under the impression that "extropianism" was
explicitly voluntarist/an-Archist/anarchocapitalist, completely
rejecting any political/social systems which sanction any type of
initiation of force or other transgression against the individual.
I don't recall how I formed this apparently incorrect association.
Perhaps from reading articles such as "Deep Anarchy", published in
EXTROPY No. 5 nearly a decade ago, where Max wrote:
"Two of the fundamental extropian values are
in self-defense is] *compatible* with extropianism.
But it is not *required* by extropianism."
responsibility for one's own life and actions,
and the determination to do away with
constraints on one's rational will. I
believe that the institutions of religion and
``the State`` are antithetical to these values."
"We already live in an anarchy. There is no
``State``. There are only individuals acting
in a statist manner..."
"Let us not be deterred from seeking a
spontaneous voluntarist society by cynics who
stand for stagnation. Freedom is our
evolutionary future."
Yet now I see Max stating in his 2/21/99 govt.html:
"Extropians _generally favor_ market mechanisms...
Extropians _generally prefer_ market approaches...
[but] we may differ among ourselves about
the extent of the proper role of government.
And just what sorts of roles for government might this new, improved extropianism support?
"Some [extropians] may favor government subsidy of basic
scientific research, or certain regulations [to
maintain] a maximally open society, or the
provision of services they think will be poorly
provided without state intervention."
Oh, really now?
Exactly how long has this congenial attitude towards the State been a part of the accepted definition of "extropian"? In other words, exactly at what point within the last 7 or 8 years did I unknowingly cease to be an extropian? I suppose I have to seek the company of "Voluntarist Transhumanists" now that Max has seen fit to extend his definition of "extropianism" to include sanction of the extortionist practices of nation-state criminal gangs?
My fault for not paying attention, of course. I've been ignoring the Extropy Institute for some time now, basically ever since EXTROPY ceased publication. I didn't particularly dig the shallow fluffiness creeping in towards the end. I've been busy with other things going on in my life, and haven't had time to closely follow the Extropians mailing list or make frequent visits to infrequently updated websites. I've been receiving and archiving the mailing list, and only glancing into my archives on rare occasions. Nonetheless, during all this time, I've continued to consider myself "extropian".
I suppose my big mistake was failing to pay attention when EP 3.0 was released. I now go check it out and find that the principle of valuing "Spontaneous Order" has spontaneously mutated itself into "Open Society" and "Self-Direction". Not quite the same thing. "Yes, Citizen-unit", {thump baton into open palm}, "you can have all the Open Society and criticism you want. Just as long as you keep directing yourself to make those tax payments on time."
I *was* under the impression that, with "extropianism", I had found the company of like-minded voluntarist transhumanists. But now Max has apparently expanded the "tent" to include the potentially larger set of non-voluntarist transhumanists. And in doing so, he has transformed the place where voluntarist transhumans stand under this tent. We once could roam the entire floor; now we are shunted off to a small corner where we can be safely ignored:
"_Some_ [extropians] would like to experiment with
entirely novel [voluntarist] social orders..."
Wow. Smooth.
-Anthony Garcia
agarcia@neosoft.com
voluntarist transhumanist
Ex-Extropian