From: Hubert Mania (humania@t-online.de)
Date: Tue Sep 03 2002 - 14:05:49 MDT
Robert Bradbury wrote
> On Tue, 3 Sep 2002, Hubert Mania wrote:
>
> > >Could we please get our priorities straight people!
> >
> > but in the same mail talked at length about spam and HIV.
>
> Because I consider these to be "real" problems that are costing money,
> threatening to destroy the extropy promoting internet.
I never understood what spam is all about, that it is so awfully wasting your time you
have to invest even more time to write and grumble about it, I mean, to really work to
find a solution. I must be a very lucky man, because I don`t receive any spam at all. I
don`t know what I`m doing right - or wrong?? :-)
> Some limited progress has been made on
> anti-HIV drug pricing for poorer countries but it isn't enough
Sure, it`s a serious problem that needs our attention and maybe future research in a
tranhumanist communityy may find a medical treatment, but having had your rant swinging
between my ears I found talking about spam and HIV a little strange. But thatīs alright.
No need to answer...
> To me the terrorism threat is *very* real. I have argued previously
> why this problem will not go away (cultural clash, multiple wives,
> lack of economic development due to prohibitions against interest).
I don`t see any solution at all. So why should I think about it, alone or with others?
If I`m unlucky I may die in the next two hours in a firestorm triggered by insane
religious fundamentalists. What can I do against this? In the 1970s we`ve had our share
of terror actions here in Germany and are still threatened but most of us got used to
it.. Imo there is no solution. You can restrict the rights of all citizens, try to build
up a spy system within all neigbourhoods to report suspicious movements and climb the
preliminary stage of a police state - we had this with the Nazis and basically in the
mid seventies, but still ... shit happens... you won`t be able to prevent it and have
your civil rights crashed as well. Everyone should be careful and sensitive but there
will always be a failure in even the tightest system . . . and especially there. One
determined suicide terrorist will eventually slip through the net and another 3000
will be dead. And you can't do anythinmg about it. So why worry at all? The USA
experiences this for the first time now and I can understand your rage. Maybe your
nation is strong and wise enough to find a solution. I doubt it.
> > Why suppress voices who feel at home here and wish to express more
> > private thoughts?
>
> If it wasn't clear -- you can express the "thought" to the list.
> But if you plan to engage in a long drawn out debate on the list
I actually don`t see where the problem is. When I talk about "private thoughts" I
take it for granted that it has of course a relevance to transhumanist issues, othewise
I would talk with my real life friends. But maybe my intentions have a little more
personal and individual spin, relating a posthuman issue to my own experience. Whatīs
wrong with it, if two or three people respond and continue a thread that is based on a
more personal level. After the second mail you will notice the general line and can
ignore the thread.
I`m not a scientist and though I try to understand as many technical issues as possible,
I mostly have a hard time when it comes to those three-letter-abbreviations. This is the
end of my attempt to understand what`s going on. Sometimes my curiosity is not satisfied
but mostly I refrain from asking any further or to insist on an explanantion, because I
don`t want to waste the time of those of you who already feel irritated when they have
to read subject lines they don`t agree with. I have a more literary and narrative access
to transhumanism. I want to understand everything but I know I have to learn a lot more.
> > If you don`t like this kind of talk, why not simply delete or ignore
> > such a thread and don`t give a damn about such deviation anymore.
>
> Because the needs of the many *do* outweigh the needs of the few (IMO).
> Would you rather have me spending my time hitting the delete key
> *or* figuring out the retrosynthesis of the Fine Motion Controller?
Come on, Robert, you don`t even have to move your delete-finger. Just ignore it
We all have limited time, I know, but this seems a little exaggerated to me.
> What about the several hundred other people who have to hit the
> delete key -- wouldn't it be better of Gina was studying what
> courses to take at the UW for example?
Okay, maybe I missed an experience you all have, so I don`t understand what this fuzz is
all about. But here you describe finger movements that take a second or even only a
fraction of a second.
> > "Go ahead and make a plan.
> > Be just bright!
> > Then, make a second plan.
> > They both won`t turn out right."
>
> Hmmmm, I've been saying ever since I encountered the entity
> called the "Russian sociopolitical environment", "Always
> have 'Plan B'".
Yeah, plan B is an appropiate example of this situation. I thought it applied pretty
well to the impossibility of getting an ideal situation on a mailing list where so many
different people try to get along. You probably have to accept that there will alway be
some guys like me who have an interest that exceeds the purely scientific atmosphere,
sorry.
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