At 08:10 AM 3/5/99 -0500, JFVirey wrote:
>
But I am merely a minarchist, and I feel extropianism (with
>which I do not fully identify anyway) has been betrayed by the recent
>inclusion of statists who favour government subsidies to scientific research
>and compulsory genetic engineering.
I believe I missed this point in replying before. What's this about including those who favor compulsory genetic engineering? I think you are confusing something I said in the new FAQ entry about *technocratic transhumanists* who may favor this. Clearly, forcing genetic engineering on persons is not consistent with Self-Direction, among other Extropian principles.
The relevant passage is in the FAQ as follows:
"Clearly some political views will be incompatible with extropian thinking. That is one way in which extropianism may differ from other forms of transhumanism. For instance, technocratic transhumanists may favor setting up an elite group to determine which genetic modifications are allowed or which are compulsory for the general population. Socialist transhumanists would want to centralize control over all economic activity in order to shape the future."
Did you get this from somewhere else that the FAQ entry, which perfectly explicitly and clearly said this could be a view of non-extropian transhumanists? Or were you just firing shots off randomly?
Max
Implications of Advanced Technologies
President, Extropy Institute: http://www.extropy.org
EXTRO 4 Conference: Biotech Futures. See http://www.extropy.org/ex4/e4main.htm