From: Emlyn (emlyn@one.net.au)
Date: Sun Jan 21 2001 - 06:11:44 MST
>
> The amount of disinformation present out there is astounding, and
> intelligent people are being sucked in. One of my colleagues, an very
> intelligent and competent individual, is also extremely uncritical (he
> didn't question the idea of 'psychic vibrations' at all until I challenged
> him on his belief). This attitude came as a big shock to me, as until
then
> I'd thought that intelligence and the tendency to think critically went
> hand-in-hand.
>
Psychic vibrations.. whoa man. Whoooaaaa!
I'd bet we've got a million more stories like this, amongst us. This
possibly is the primary enemy of extropianism; creeping credulity, amongst
people who haven't been introduced to any way of making sound judgements
about things.
Interestingly, I was seeing an australian clergyman of some note (???
Costello? brother of the treasurer?) interviewed recently. He was being
asked about new-agey kind of stuff, and what he thought about people taking
bits and pieces of Asian religions, as they felt best. He replied that he
thought it was disastrous, because what they took was the feel good stuff,
the easy stuff. They leave out the nasty stuff, the unglamorous parts, the
hard work.
There's a lot of that going around, in general. Critical thinking is seen
quite sceptically, I think, by many people. Dont worry about the head, trust
your feelings. Trust your emotions. That'll be $10.
> Reducing the 'sheep-effect' by introducing extropian concepts, science,
and
> encouraging a more questioning attitude must come under the heading of a
> 'good thing'.
>
> An extropian outreach program!! Now there's an idea .... (gotta be
careful
> it doesn't become dogmatic, though).
>
If it were to be done, it's probably better to leave most of extropianism
out. Just spread the futurist ideas, the science, the information, and the
optimism. Once people take that on board, the rest follows pretty much
automatically.
Emlyn
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