From: "Kai Becker" <kmb@kai-m-becker.de>
> My vision is to live in a society where everyone finds it absurd to carry a
> gun - too heavy, too uncomfortable, too dangerous and simply unnecessary.
> And don't tell me that's impossible. We are discussing infinite
> life-extension, mind uploading and nanotechnology here, so what about a
> little extropian sociology, hm?
What a great idea -- "extropian sociology"
...and how 'bout extropian sociobiology, and extropian behavioral genetics?
Of course it would be nice to live in a world without guns, and I imagine such
a world would also be without religious fanatics, wouldn't it? After all,
religious fanatics can make weapons out of anything... even airplanes. So,
before you envision a society where everyone finds it absurd to carry a gun,
better envision one where everyone finds it absurd to carry religious memes.
> Now, what about the glorious
> future of <you-name-it> technology, when you can't use it because someone
> could misuse it to kill you?
I think you've discovered the necessity of developing extropian brains before
developing other kinds of extropian technology. Just as existence precedes
essence, so glorious extropian brains precede glorious future <you-name-it>
technology.
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment, malevolent AI,
non-sensory experience, SETI
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat May 11 2002 - 17:44:33 MDT