I've been an observer and secret student of memetics and extropy related subjects for a while, admittedly from a more sociological than mathematical angle, and having been accepted as a member of this forum, there are a few questions I would like to pose.
First of all, let me say that I am strong believer in the future, a future including humanity as a species. And I truely feel that all efforts of extropians to raise public awareness and acceptance concerning current adaptions necessary to progress towards such a future are desperately needed. By the same token, I feel that political or social control meddling with evolution in a way which exceeds the bare necessities of our humanity, are a hinderance in this same evolutionary process, and I therefore welcome and agree with extropians' position on this issue.
But having said this, I feel there is a limit to tolerance, where the quality itself starts destroying what it was meant to preserve - a natural development of superiority of one trait compared to another. This limit obviously would be exceeded if tolerance were applied to restrictive concepts (excessive regulations, taxation, welfare support and others preventing a relatively undisturbed evolution), thereby allowing the continuation of such restrictive concepts.
A similar misguided aplication of tolerance concerns violations against children. A child is by nature weaker than an adult, is however at the same time tomorrow's adult and therefore the future of humanity. Any violation against children therefore potentially disrupts evolution in a way that should no longer happen based on traits developed in humans. It is one thing for a lion to eat the pups of a rivalling male - but the fact of humans having transcended this need is part and parcel of their very humanity.
What is my point? I know from personal research that several extropians or transhumanists are guilty of sexually abusing children (Keith Henson, for example), and I recently came across a persistent rumor that the same is true of Max More (incidentally a friend of Henson?) as well. For obvious reasons as outlined above, I do not consider this to be their private business. But I have so far failed to see reactions or statements from any extropians on this subject, which I consider a moral omission.
Any comments?
Please do not consider this post a flame, because it is not. It is a factual - though critical - inquiry, based on my sincere view that a subject's advance will be hampered by deficencies in credibility and trustworthyness of its exponents, and therefore deserves an honest answer. The future can not be approached without dealing with present issues that might bar the road to it.
Jamiro
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