> > i was about an hour northwest of boston on business. there
> > was no place to buy anything! no walmarts, no fry's
> > electronics, nothing. just all these dippy little mom and
> > pop joints, selling who knows what. antiques, i guess.
> > i dont know what you do if you want to buy computer
> > books or hardware or cds or even a cell phone. seems like any
> > extropian would suffer miserably in such a place. are
> > any of you from up there? how do you cope? {8^D spike
I am living in Laconia, which is in central NH. There may be towns in NH that have very little in the way of tech-gear, but nothing is ever very far away. Being in a small city, I have two Walmarts each within 10 minutes of my home. We have numerous chain stores and dining locations all over NH, in addition to the small, as you say, "mom and pop" stores. As Mike Lorrey pointed out, we have several top-notch malls in our state, as well as numerous "plaza" shopping locations. We have several Barnes and Noble stores, Borders, Computer City, CompUSA, et.al. Everything that we could ever need is right here. However, one can always climb into the car and within 10 minutes find themselves in the middle of the woods, or hiking a mountain, seemingly miles away from civilization. This is the beauty of NH, and Northern New England in general. We have the conveniences of modern life, perhaps more so than others, yet we have integrated it seamlessly (usually) with the surrounding natural beauty.
Regardless of what we do or do not have here in NH, why would an Extropian be "miserable" here? Because he is not living in the middle of a city? Because he smells trees rather than smog? Even if we didn't possess *any* of the conveniences that I have pointed out, I would claim that a true Extropian would cope just fine in this environment. It is not the nature of, or in the best interest of, an Extropian to become dependent upon anything. We use technology intelligently, and some may say that we use it excessively, but the first and most important Being in this world is oneself. Being is limitless, and as Extropians we are dedicating ourselves to the conscious evolution of our Being into more advanced entities, but we must first learn to look to ourselves to solve the problems (if there are any). If one is intelligent, they need not have technology produced by others to excel and cope with the world, for they will evolve as individuals into more promising and able beings. Perhaps it is *more* Extropian to live in the "wild" and blaze your own path. Do we no longer encourage independent thought?
As an Extropian, by becoming dependent upon your local technology superstore and the products that they provide, you are putting yourself into a position that is contrary to the Extropian motive. You are making yourself more easy to dispose of. It is our intent, as Extropians, to overcome *all* obstacles. This includes the ability to survive and "cope" in a world that we are not accustom to.
The most powerful technology that you will ever utilize is your own consciousness and power of creativity. Without *that*, you are nothing. The other conveniences are not necessary. Learn to depend upon yourself...
Yours, from the mountains of NH,
Roderick