Re: extropians-digest V6 #65

From: michael.bast@convergys.com
Date: Wed Mar 07 2001 - 07:44:18 MST


The question had to do with how a particular group of people will respond
to the types of techonologies we want, as extropians. Yes, this is the
extropy list, and the question had specifically to do with how a particular
group would respond to us. This, I think, is perfectly on topic. Of course
there are few 'true believers', but pissing off the nominal members by
insulting their entire group's beliefs seems counterproductive.
     If the United States bans cloning, and an Islamic country doesn't,
ought we to say "No thanks, we don't agree with you, so we're just not
going to pursue our research.", do you think? You've added nothing to this
thread, and have drawn me into a pointless debate over something which is
a) untrue overall and b) not at all related to the subject, just so you can
spout bigoted nonsense. I was very seriously trying to talk about something
important. I'm done talking about this, I've got more important things to
do with my time.

Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 17:05:15 -0800
From: "J. R. Molloy" <jr@shasta.com>
Subject: Re: Islam, theology and politeness

From: <michael.bast@convergys.com>
> There was a question about how Islam (about 25% of the planet's
> population) would respond to the types of technology we are interested
in.

If it's important to consider how Muslims respond to extropic technology,
then it's three times MORE important to question how non-Muslims (about
75% of the planet's population) would respond to extropic technology,
because there are three times more of them. Since this is the Extropy list
(not the Muslim theology list), it seems somewhat OT to discuss Islamic
responses and/or theology. But since no one has complained...

Muslims, just like Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and any other
faith-based creeds, have a small percentage of true believers, and the
rest are content to identify themselves with their parents' denomination
and go about their business, not giving it much thought. As Max's recent
presentation at a Jewish school shows, normal, healthy kids don't let
religious memes interfere with their perception of reality at large. I
imagine that most of these kids are smart enough to ask questions like the
following.

--

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