Well, it appears I've stuck my foot in my mouth again.
On Tue, 31 Aug 1999, Kathryn Aegis wrote:
>
> Robert, Whether or not you meant to do so, your entire posting comes off as
> saying that Extropianism is somehow better than general transhumanism,
That was in no way the intent. I view them as somewhat orthogonal to each other, so neither can be "better" than the other. The only thing there can perhaps be is greater emphasis on one area or another by the different groups.
>
> I hope that you will take some time to acquaint yourself with the
> activities going on around the globe among general transhumanists before
> making such statements.
>
I'm learning.
I don't feel in any way that ExI or Extropian Principles are better than the WTA or The Transhumanist Declaration. Given that primarily the same people contribute have contributed to the source documents of both organizations, I can't see how they can be much different. If the organizations are not "virtually" the same, then one has to distinguish between them in some way. It is my *personal* feeling that the WTA is trying to encompass "national" organziations under an international umbrella. It also seems to be true that one is primarily located in the U.S. and it seems the center of the WTA is in the U. K. I'm primarily involved in the one which is closest to me. I naturally support the WTA in its efforts as well. I don't feel I have the time to support/follow both organizations, both mailing lists, etc. if I want to stay up-to-date with the other things I bring to this forum (science, nanotech, aging, etc.).
If I may make a suggestion to people reading my posts -- I am not a wordsmith to the same degree as some of the other people on this list. When I write something, it may make sense to me in my mind, but I may not be communicating it fluently. I'm probably much better at selecting machine instructions than I am at English words. So, please try to read between the lines. If I support the "Extropian Principles" and "The Transhumanist Declaration" and I say something which is logically inconsistant with those, then you should feel free to apply the proper correction.
Robert