From: Neal Blaikie (nrb@porterville.k12.ca.us)
Date: Thu Mar 15 2001 - 14:38:30 MST
Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 3/15/2001 11:49:07 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> nrb@porterville.k12.ca.us writes:
>
> << Humility? The ability to tell the difference between science fiction &
> possibility? ;-)
>
> Neal >>
> There are megatons of scientists who would deride many of the insights and
> goals of Extropianism, out of hand, no humility involved. They would simply
> label it as scifi. Not fair, but I believe that's a fact. They would dismiss
> all 'possibility' also.
As the little ;-) at the end of my post indicates, I was trying to be funny,
though I guess I was half-serious. Sorry if I came off as negative or derisive.
My call for humility is a reflection of my own sense of wonder when I consider
the mere existence of the universe (who needs a God when you've got all this?).
If and when we become god-like and can take the universe for granted (if we ever
can), we'll be so far removed from what we are now that trying to imagine what
this will be like seems better relegated to science fiction & daydreams. Our
current limited perspectives will always cloud the picture. I'm more interested
in the practical steps that can be taken now to lay the groundwork for what is
to come (or what could come). It seems to me that we could easily lose sight of
these goals by getting caught up in the "magic" and just assuming all will be
well when "it" happens (sounds like religion).
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