From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Tue Mar 14 2000 - 14:54:10 MST
From: Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com>
>Short-sighted people try to control the misuse of those
>technologies by restricting their use with government. What that
>generally accomplishes is to limit their good uses while ensuring
>that they will still get into the hands of criminals and the
>insane--especially those working for the government.
>It's no wonder this is a hot-button issue among Extropians; we are
>the architects of the future and proponents of technology. How do
>we expect to address the public's fears about its misuse when we
>still have so much fear and misunderstanding of centuries-old
>technology?
>If it seems like we are beating a dead horse with this issue, it's
>because it is so central to our core values--to what it means to
>be an Extropian--that we can't simply gloss over it. We need to
>decide how access to future technologies will be controlled, and
>the best way to do that is to examine how present ones are being
>controlled, and how well current methods work.
Excellent point, you've clearly cut to the heart of the matter.
This is a conflict between those who say that technology is not
merely material, it can have "inherent evil" and therefore can be
justifiably banned, and those who say "punish those who misuse
technology, not technology itself." The latter position argues in
favor of personnal responsibility, a core extropian value. The
former excuses misusers from personnal responsibility, and is
therefore anti-extropian.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
Adler Planetarium www.adlerplanetarium.org
Life Extension Foundation, www.lef.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
Mars Society, www.marssociety.org
Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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