From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sun Sep 16 2001 - 17:29:57 MDT
Samantha Atkins wrote,
> It sounds to me like we may need to extend the Principles to
> have a clearer right to self-determination and non-interference
> for all sentients.
I, myself, have been disturbed at how often people try to link racism,
isolationism, initiation of force, sacrifice of innocents, benevolent
dictatorship, censorship, shutdown of unpopular ideas, and the like with the
Extropian Principals. A lot of people seem to support freedom, but only for
their own ideas, not for someone else's ideas.
Some recent postings seem to suggest that we should sacrifice innocents to
speed up the development of technology in the name of The Extropian
Principals. I do not think these ideas derive from the principals at all.
Other postings have suggested that the principals are fine for academic
discussion, but we are at war and the principals no longer apply. If this
is true, we need to adjust the principals. Principals are statements of
truth for all time. They cannot just be discarded when they become
inconvenient.
This may be a good time to re-examine the principals and to clarify them.
Perhaps we can prioritize the principals, or place them in order of
preference. Perhaps we can put more into the FAQ addressing some of these
presumptions, specifically stating that certain positions are not compatible
with the Extropian Principals.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
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