From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Fri Nov 30 2001 - 05:51:17 MST
From: "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@aeiveos.com>
> > The sooner they are wiped out, the less it will cost.
>
> If this comment is correctly attributed, then you aren't choosing
> a particularly extropic path J.R.
The comment is quite extropic, IMO, and I stand by it.
Wiping out terrorists implies that none are left to oppose extropic systems.
Since none would be left, there would be none to hate the US or to produce
another army.
You have (very un-extropically) mistaken "Muslims" for terrorists.
What about the Muslims in the US Army?
Which is why you need to remember that we're talking about terrorists, not
soldiers, and that my comment (above) applies to terrorists.
Furthermore, you have (again un-extropically) forgotten that terrorists are
not born that way, they are conditioned and indoctrinated for many years in
order to make them that way. It is a matter of memetics, not genetics. So,
birth rates are irrelevant.
Note that I did not say how terrorism should be wiped out, so it can be done
with the most technologically advanced techniques, but since the longer we
wait, the bigger the problem may grow, it follows that the sooner terrorism is
wiped out, the less it will cost.
Conversely (and obviously), the longer it takes, the more it will cost.
So, once again: The sooner they (meaning terrorists, of course) are wiped out,
the less it
will cost.
The urgency of the situation needs to be addressed. Not silver linings.
So the most extropic thing to do is to wipe them out ASAP.
IMO, cryonics is a luddite dream. Instead of freezing dysfunctional brains
(maintaining the status quo), we need to build better ones (bringing about a
better future).
We have no evidence whatsoever to support the conjecture that their "minds"
can be changed, but if they could be, then that would effectively wipe them
out... which is what I have been advocating all along.
Aggressive extropy is the best policy.
Putting terrorists in jail would be anti-extropic. Jail is exactly the
breeding
ground that hatred and mental illness thrives in.
Ending terrorism is far more effective than merely confining (and possibly
breeding) it.
I think you should reconsider the much more extropic advantages of wiping them
out quickly.
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment, malevolent AI,
non-sensory experience, SETI
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:12:17 MST