From: John Thomas (fyreflye@bigfoot.com)
Date: Sun Jan 02 2000 - 15:33:01 MST
At 1:08 PM -0800 1/2/2000, Natasha Vita-More wrote:
>At 01:42 PM 1/2/00 EST, Greg wrote:
>
>>This is a work in progress. As you can see, I've developed three categories
>>of opponents of transhumanist values and goals: 1) Greens, 2) Religious
>>Groups and 3) Hate Groups and Opponents of Liberty. I would appreciate help
>>from the list in compiling this list.
>
>Those who work to educate others about transhumanism do us all a great
>service and those who work toward eradicating misconceptions do an equal
>benefit to transhumanity. I'm glad you are also taking on the challenge of
>researching and revealing groups that can and do oppose our beliefs.
>
>In that your work is in progress and you will be specifying particular
>examples and issues within groups that oppose our views, I do have two
>thoughts: (1) Using a political group as a target to oppose may be
>overbroad, unless, however, the group is unarguably vindictive. In that I
>was once a Green Party electee and a transhuman at the same time, I cannot
>agree with you that Greens (in general) are a threat to our culture. It is
>the alarmist environmentalists and alarmist anti-genetic engineering
>advocates that are ridiculously and arrogantly obtuse.
I'm still both a registered Green and a transhumanist; and while
I have little expectation of the Greens becoming a serious political
party I feel a need to distance myself from the ruling parties, and
am not ready to embrace a Libertarian agenda. Not all questions
about genetically engineered crops have been answered, and it may
still be possible to make technological errors that lead to
environmental disaster. Like Natasha, if I understand her correctly,
I reject the ignorant alarmists without rejecting rational
environmental concerns.
It seems to me that many opponents of transhumanism reject it out
of ignorance and fear, and need to have their real if mistaken
concerns rationally addressed. Lumping them all together as
"enemies" and thereby placing them beyond hope of any real dialogue
seems to me to be politically mistaken. I hope Greg's excellent
page will evolve from an "enemies list" into a resource in which
those with honest concerns can find both the answers to their
questions and
reassurance about our sincerity.
--
-Best wishes,
John Thomas
E-mail: fyreflye@bigfoot.com
Voicemail/Fax: (505) 207-5411
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