From: Forrest Bishop (forrestb@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Fri Jun 07 2002 - 23:56:30 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: John Grigg <starman2100@lycos.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: Criticizing the Extropian Principles
> Lee Corbin wrote:
> > I cannot find a single phrase---even a single word that bothers me.
> > Please, can't you? Isn't there some little tiny thing that rubs you
> > the wrong way? Well, let's hear about it!
> (end)
>
...
> Forrest Bishop replied:
> Several things could use a tune-up. "Static Utopia" for example
> is oxymoronic, even as State is unrealizable. "Rule of law" is an
> impossible ideal, as laws are quite strictly matters of cognitive
> processes, and therefore different for each individual. Laws are
> not to be found in books or other recording media, as these information
> storage devices are subject to personal interpretation.
> (end)
>
> I feel Forrest is nitpicking somewhat, but I would hope Max will consider his insights.
Well, Lee was asking for "little tiny things". The assertion that "static utopia" is oxymoronic is a tiny little thing, to me. The
second assertion- "the rule of law" [should be supported] is a great big thing, to me. The rest of the passage-
Open Society --
Supporting social orders that foster freedom of speech, freedom of
action, and experimentation. Opposing authoritarian social control
and favoring the rule of law and decentralization of power. Preferring
bargaining over battling, and exchange over compulsion. Openness to
improvement rather than a static utopia.
is quite agreeable. The phrase "rule of law" is memetically derived from the prior notion of "a government of laws, not men" and
points to the religion(s) of Statism: the irrational belief in an unseen entity (the State) greater than thou. This slogan is most
often used by politicians, their apparachiks, and the hoards of other odious retainers as an ersatz apologetic for
government-employee theft, murder and so forth. The information-theoretic argument pointed at above is a little more subtle.
> On the positive side, I don't see how fascism and neo-nazism could use the extropian principles for their own purposes(unless they
rewrote them to the point of being unrecognizeable).
*Any* bit stream >=1 can be converted into *any other* bit stream >=1 by application of a suitable algorithim.
Forrest
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