From: Rick Strongitharm (xllb@home.com)
Date: Sun Jan 02 2000 - 14:18:11 MST
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-extropians@extropy.com
[mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.com]On Behalf Of Michael M. Butler
Sent: December 22, 1999 11:37 PM
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Fanatical intimidation, was Re: Bahai Faith
>Point taken. I agree this is not the appropriate forum. It is a shame
>that religious discussions have become taboo in public. This seems to
>further the seperation of science from religion. Censorship through
>fanatical intimidation.
I delight in the question-begging symmetry of the last sentence. But I must
take issue with your use of the word "censorship". The phrase "Fanatical
intimidation", taken alone, covers the general chilling effect pretty well.
And it crops up lots of places. Singleminded steadfastness shares a border
with it. "Most people think [that] they are thinking when they are merely
rearranging their prejudices."
As Scott Adams points out, everyone is an idiot. It's generally accepted
that being an idiot all the time is worse than being an idiot just some of
the time. A hard part is figuring out what (or whose) criteria to use for
idiocy.
Is it idiotic to claim that what look like two-million-old human footprints
present a mystery? Evidently, because scientismists state bluntly that they
are just footprints from a dinosaur (which species, pray?) that folded its
feet when it ran, and creationists, well, who cares what they say, right?
Everyone presses for an answer, and "perhaps" gets clipped out of the frame.
Zeteticism is always in short supply, along with humility. I do not exclude
myself. But I'm working on it.
MMB
Humans love closure; we seem to be designed that way. And, no, mister
pince-nez, "design" does not imply a creator, _nor does it not_.
"Design" is, among other things, what humans grok as "pattern". Period.
Stop beating that gooey spot where the horse used to be.
>Zeteticism is always in short supply, along with humility.<p>
I wasn’t looking for another label. I got rid of “Christian” (the
mega-ultra-extreme-charismatic-fundamentalist-born again version) about 12
years ago. I deserted the practice of Law around the same time, so even
when I say “I’m a Lawyer”, I feel obliged to add “non-practicing”.<p>
But now, after looking it up, I think I can proudly say “I’m Zetetic”. <p>
Perhaps it is a function of the human mind, to find multiple questions in
single answers. In which case, would reason not eventually lead to an
increasing number of irreducibles. In time, theory and original thought
would become obsolete, as reality lost all mystery. All information would
be on record. The exact consequences of every possible, option would become
predictable and available, and “we” would always make the right choice.<p>
I don’t think I want to be Zetetic anymore. Or at least, I hope we don’t
reach the end of the search very soon.<p>
Oh well, the rate at which we’re discovering irreducibles is way too slow
for me to imagine a credible “Theory of Everything” in my lifetime.<p>
I subscribed to this list a few months ago. It has become part of my day,
most of which go something like this, a) read the paper at a friend’s
restaurant with cholestorol and too much coffee, then b) zip home of look up
the Messiah Cam I’d just read about, then, since I’m online anyway, c) read
my 40 or 50 extropian emails – I love to read through them in the order that
they are received. It’s like flying though a Stephen King novel, where you’
re getting thrown from one set of dimensions, to another, and back. Then d)
I try to get some work done.
Rick Strongitharm
http://www.rickross.com/reference/Fund13.html
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