From: Brian Atkins (brian@posthuman.com)
Date: Thu Apr 26 2001 - 12:31:46 MDT
Neal Blaikie wrote:
>
> Brian Atkins wrote:
>
> > To the apparently few actual Extropians (the capital "E" ones, you know
> > who you are) left on this list, may I suggest we spend the next few weeks
> > doing some serious schooling and "education" of the sizable crop of newbies,
> > trolls, and gibbering incompetents who have made this list almost unusable?
>
> That's pretty harsh, Brian. What exactly are you feeling threatened by? If you
nothing
What I am feeling is some anger, mixed with disgust that one of my favorite
lists has fallen so far.
> don't like someone else's post, why not just ignore it? As far as I can tell,
Because it provides no feedback to most people (a few people might actually
realize they are being ignored on purpose, but usually they are not the ones
you have to worry about).
> this is an open forum, not an elitist clique of single-minded drones. Lighten
> up a little. And if you're seriously offended by this list being "infiltrated"
> by people who don't think exactly like you, why not start your own list? You
> could have prospective members take a test or sign an oath or something.
>
You know this forum used to be used primarily by Extropians for Extropians.
Not spending half your time defending yourself from people who /don't get it,
and don't want to get it/. Here are some sample subject lines from 1996:
Private Space (was: Trans-extropian principles)
Society of the Mind - by Eric L. Harry
Ideas: The Singularity
Linda Nagata's Attriums
Government is a form of Spontaneous Order
FITNESS/MEDIA: Max's Aug 96 "Muscle & Fitness" article
HotWired posthuman debate
The Extropian Principles
The Great Filter
Offending People's Minds
Physical Improvements
Controlling AI (was: Thinking about the future...)
AI at all costs. (Was thinking about the future)
Dynamic Individual Freedom
A Race of humanoid drones for labor.
evolution and "I"
The SI That Ate Chicago (was: Thinking about the future...)
Virtual Worlds
Buckminster-Fullerene
Omega Point Theories Are Depressing
Thinking about the future...
Nietzsche on peace vs. truth
The Joys of Flesh (was: The Poor Masses)
Econ of Etalk and Cities
Darwinian Extropy
Strange Matter as Planetary Warfare
I just randomly ripped those from the first maybe 20% of the posts of 1996.
There are many many more good and interesting subjects from then.
Now let's look at some of the recent subject lines from 2001:
Re: Uncritical Techno-Cheerleaders--was ENTROPIAN ALERT! Another warning for us
to organize
Is this a new cheap way to get material into space?
rrrrr wordplay alert
"NASA Ends Project Intended to Replace Shuttle"
RE: SETI@Home
Hal on Science versus Religion
Anti-extropianism in the new Star Trek
Gun Control & Crime
Islam, theology and politeness
GUNS: Misleading report by a true believer.
Bad Americans(?)
"Mad Cow" Animal Seizures in Vermont (sort of)
Tech progress graphs?
What does the US need to move ahead in Space?
LUDD: Luddite Directory?
Dead Chickens: The Cluck Stops Here
Re: Animal Rights
funny, not related to anything
What Is NASA's (Tourist) Problem?
Re: Fluoridation?
Re: spike's Body, a modern medical enigma
Re: Foot and Mouth Outbreak Intentional?
Re: Spike, the head throb!
Felons' New Right to DNA Testing
RoboDog Kills Man
SPACE: Tito To Go
Do you see a difference? The more recent times spend a lot of time shooting
the breeze about current headlines, very little speculation or critical
thinking about the future. In other words the extropians list has become
little more than a current events chat list. Ok so it's not that bad, there
are still plenty of good threads... but you can see it shifting.
I support ExI, and it would be pretty sad to get a lot of press/interest
from the upcoming Extro-5 only to have anyone who looks at the list then to
see a complete mess. So I'm making some small effort here to provide some
feedback before that event. There is also an upcoming improvement to the
list: the Javien reputation/ranking system. However since this is voluntary,
I am not sure if it will help much. The kinds of people I am railing against
will either ignore their rep or even take it as a badge of pride most likely.
-- Brian Atkins Director, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence http://www.singinst.org/
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