From: FutureQ (futureq@attbi.com)
Date: Mon Oct 14 2002 - 01:02:38 MDT
Phil Osborn wrote:
> I am not a particular fan of Atheists United as an
> organization. They play politics, taking positions
> such as opposition to School Vouchers
Maybe they are so for good reason. Mainly that the "Christian whacko
right wingers" are so enamored with the idea of having control over
teaching Creationism rather than Evolution. They probably won't put much
emphasis on teaching philosophy or critical thinking either since the
bible says, "be not a reasoner or a philosopher". In other words, don't
think or you'll discover this is all a sham.
We must be careful who we pick as allies. Conservative religious zealots
and by extension and association plain old conservatives are not
Extropic. They won't ever be our allies. They hear us talk of having
godlike powers one day and all they really hear is the serpent in the
garden saying, "You will surely be as gods, having the knowledge of good
and of evil". Insert here KNOWLEDGE=BAD. They hear us talk of science
based immortality and again they only hear the serpent saying, "You
shall not surely die", again with the reference to learning some secret
knowledge and how bad it is for mere mortals to learn it. They hear us
talk of the singularity, of knowledge increasing, and what they really
hear is the apocalyptic prophecy that says, "There will be much going to
and fro... [sic] ...knowledge will increase in the latter days". Sorry I
don't care to take the time or suffer the exposure again to look up the
exact text verbose. I think you all get the idea.
I see a lot of left and liberal bashing on this list and it puzzles
me... saddens me. This is because statistics show that the more educated
an individual is the more likely they are to be liberal and furthermore,
the more educated and liberal a person then also the likelihood they
will be less religious. Meanwhile we are under attack by the likes of
Leon Kass and Bush's merry band of science bashers. I don't see rabid
right wingers being transhumanist. The term conservative means favoring
the status quo. Conservatives are not in any hurry whatsoever to
drastically change everything they know and are comfortable with.
Actually most pine for and hope to return to the "good (bad) old days"
romanticizing the so called slower gentler times of old when women and
children were practically property. They certainly are in no hurry to
experience the type of things that will cause huge culture shock,
destroy religion's precepts and especially so greatly change the economy
as to practically do away with it.
So what DO conservatives have in common with Extropians? Oh yeah, they
favor a "Free Market". Well I gotta say I don't see that as being enough
in lieu of the enormous downside to consider them as allies.
FutureQ
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