From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Sun Dec 23 2001 - 16:06:47 MST
From: "Olga Bourlin" <fauxever@sprynet.com>
> In my own locality of King County, Washington, voters defeated an
> Affirmative Action bill not too long ago. Do I think that was racist? Yes.
Well, at least you got that right... "Affirmative Action" is definitely
racist, and sexist to boot.
IMO, it's almost as racist as the so-called "reparations" scheme advanced by
certain anti-white bigots.
-------------
From: Smigrodzki, Rafal
<<BTW, can you give valid historical evidence of the beneficial effects of the
absence of a government on social development (I mean *total* absence of a
government resulting in great improvements in quality and quantity of human
life)?>>
Of course there is no such evidence. Nor is there evidence of the beneficial
effects of the *total* absence of disease, because disease is always present
in some form. Likewise, government is always present in some form. But we can
still try to get rid of it.
--------------
From: "Olga Bourlin" <fauxever@sprynet.com>
> Something more to consider: women are more apt to be given breaks than men,
> when it comes to crime and prison sentences. Generally speaking, to be
> sure, but "explanations" for why women turn to crime are considered more
> often than for men (i.e., the assumption being that if women do wrong it
> must be because they're victims of something or other, while men - because,
> after all, they're men" - are responsible for their crimes, period).
Yes, that's true. For example, notice all the analyses about why Susan Smith
murdered her children, and yet a man who murdered his children was recently
executed for this same crime.
"If it turns out Susan Smith murdered her children simply
in order to advance an affair, are we wrong to condemn her?"
asks one journal www.nodogs.org/2003.html
Imagine asking that kind of question about a man who murdered his children.
----------------
From: <Spudboy100@aol.com>
> jr@shasta.com noted om dec 23rd, 2001:
>
> <<Here's the first and last law of zenarchy:
> Any sufficiently hyper-cognitive complex adaptive system abandons all
desire>>
>
>
> Do You have any evidence of this contention, from a peer-reviewed study?
Well, there's the Dhammapada, allegedly authored by Siddhartha Gautama.
There are many reviews, but since he was rather peerless, those reviews don't
matter much.
> If ETI's existed, and were able to make themselves known to us, then
religion
> would certainly change, and I guess that one of Shermer's points was that
the
> space aliens might become the deity or actually be the deity.
I don't think religion would change nearly as much as science would change.
Religion is ready to incorporate UFOs into its belief system. Just alter or
modify some of the symbolism and mythology to fit the extraterrestrial, and
presto! ...aliens become angels.
But for science to recognize and acknowledge ETIs would require a drastic and
shattering transformation ...and one which I personally do not expect to
happen, because currently, science is the closest thing we have to a machine
that can accurately identify incorrect thinking.
------------------
From: "G.P." <gdotpdot@newsguy.com>
> Indeed, I think free markets moderated by government regulation is the
> idea behind most government policies of the Western world. And I think
> that this idea is very good. Of course implementing it is much more
> difficult than describing its basic philosophy and perhaps in actual
> implementation so far we have either lost too much of the benefits of
> free markets, or not protected the weakest groups enough.
Then again, it is the best system going.
The old saw, "If it ain't broke don't fix it" seems apropos here, because
although we may wish to improve the system, we should also recognize that
continued improvement is in fact one of the elements that explains why the
Western system works so well. We keep fine tuning our economic machine, while
others try to re-invent the wheel.
----------------
From: <Lucylou98@aol.com>
> I'm truly amazed to see such nonsense on the Extropian list.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt in this instance, and assume that your
rude comment was intended as an insult (albeit a lame one), since it's not
likely that you're so mentally challenged that you're actually "truly amazed"
by nonsense of any kind on the extropians list. Consequently, since your
intent was to insult rather than to inform, there's no point in responding
further.
-------------------
From: <hal@finney.org>
> What about all the
> people who donate to the ACLU? Don't they know that the organization
> is working to prevent civil rights rather than to support them?
"There's a sucker born every minute."
--P. T. Barnum
---------------
From: "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com>
> Let's all hear it for absolute colorblindness.
That would, of course, mean the end of "Affirmative Action."
Welcome to the Libertarian branch of government.
--------------
From: "Max More" <max@maxmore.com>
> Me too.
Yeah, me too.
We're all in the same boat, but not everyone gets to join the Captain for
dinner.
----------------
<http://www.uncommonknowledge.org/01-02/602.html>
DARWIN'S GHOST: Sociobiology and Human Behavior
What can evolutionary science tell us about human behavior? During
the past thirty years, biologists, anthropologists, and psychologists
have begun applying Darwinian concepts, such as natural selection and
survival of the fittest, to the study of behavior. Are social
characteristics, such as aggression, love, and courtship, determined
by our evolutionary past and encoded into our genes like physical
attributes, such as walking upright or hair color? Are we slaves to
our DNA, or does genetic determinism fail to explain fully what it
means to be human? Guests: Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population
Studies, Stanford University; Author, Human Natures. Jeffrey Schloss,
Chair of the Biology Department, Westmont College; Author, Altruism
and Altruistic Love. Lionel Tiger, Charles Darwin Professor of
Anthropology, Rutgers University; Author, The Decline of Males
<http://www.uncommonknowledge.org/01-02/603.html>
IT'S THE BIOLOGY, STUPID: The Policy Implications of Sociobiology
--- --- --- --- ---
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.
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