From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Sun Nov 25 2001 - 11:44:35 MST
I'm annoyed over the recent hashing and rehashing of the
"name calling" on the list.
I cannot find any documentation on what is and what is
not "proper behavior" on the list (if someone knows where
this is, please let me know).
I can however go back to the Extropian Principles --
> 2. Self-Transformation - Affirming continual moral, intellectual,
> and physical self-improvement, through critical and creative thinking,
> personal responsibility, and experimentation.
I want to bring up the "personal responsibility" perspective
here. There are proper ways and improper ways to pee in the
water hole.
Here is a *proper* way:
"I feel that you are the weakest link".
Here is an *improper* way:
"You *are* the weakest link".
The first takes personal responsibility for your "feelings".
It is fine with me for people to "feel" almost anything.
Getting ones feelings off ones chest from time to time
may contribute to moral and physical self-improvement
(through relieving stress). So saying something the
first way may be considered extropic.
The second statement makes an assertive claim and does not
propose a any critical thought path or experiment that might be
conducted to ascertain whether it is a valid or invalid
statement. Given the highly subjective nature of the
opinions we have of other individuals its highly questionable
whether the validity of the statement could ever be determined.
So such statements tend to be less than useful and quite
unextropic (particularly if they generate dozens of additional
unextropic messages).
Now, it is of course feasible, for example using current /.
software, to create a site and subject such assertions to
a vote. That doesn't make them true or false because as often
happens on the TV show the results of a "vote" do *not* always
reflect reality.
If I notice people making the second type of declarative
assertions in the future, without providing an efficient
method for determining its validity, I will <plonk> them
for demonstrating a lack of "personal responsibility".
We need to encourage the people on the list take
more *personal responsibility* for *how* they speak.
If people notice me misspeaking declaratively, please
feel free to <plonk> me as well.
If we do not become more effective at promoting "wisdom"
and "intelligence", I for one am not going to want an
"indefinite lifespan".
Robert
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