Re: RANT:$$$: nano startup investments

Forrest Bishop (forrestb@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 30 May 1997 04:14:54 -0500 (CDT)


You wrote:
>
>At 10:47 AM 5/29/97 +0200, Eugene Leitl wrote:
>
>>Probabilistically, the participants of this list are unlikely to
>>effect measurable impacts upon these future developments.

??? Speak for yourself.

Even
>>worse, I still think careful mentation, idea gestation

I think idea gestation (as opposed to contemplating thy >H navel)
is the most important function of the this list, along with
putting poeple of like mind in touch with each other. Before
I subscribed to Xtro, I had no one to talk to about stuff I
think matters and is interesting.

Carl Feynman:
>I view participating in this list as a hobby. My first priority is raising
>my kids. My second priority is being nice to my wife. My third priority is
>using artificial intelligence to (voluntarily) separate people from their
>money, which then flows to my corporate masters. Making the world more
>transhuman is somewhere around twelfth priority, just below keeping the yard
>nice.

To parahrase Harlan Ellison:
"A hundred thousand dead from floods in Bangladesh is not as important
_to me_ as getting the dog to the vet."

>
>I suspect my job, though not directly aimed at making people more godlike,
>has a greater positive effect on the future of humanity than all my posting
>to this list. At least I'm making machines a little smarter and the economy
>a little more efficient.

Hard one to call, Carl.

Forrest