From: Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Thu Mar 06 1997 - 02:40:20 MST
On Wed, 5 Mar 1997, Hal Finney wrote:
> Some of their advise for weathering this storm did not fit well into
> my own individualistic tendencies. They advised becoming part of the
> community, getting a reputation as someone who is good to know, someone
> who helps out with local groups, etc. Think of the people who got to
> be in charge of the ration coupons during WWII.
I don't see a problem with this and being an individualist, and it is
actually very good advice for making extropianism more reasonable to
people - if you read about it in the newspapers, it is a weird cult, but
your friend Hal is a decent chap with some good ideas. If we could be
known as the local experts on the future and "big things", people might
come to us to hear what this fuss about cloning or nanotech is.
Myself, I try to influence some minds in the local community. Every
wednesday I go to the local highschool where a teacher holds an "open
house" for the kids to build electronics and play with the computers (the
girls have just discovered IRC...). I sit there and talk about things with
them, helping them out or suggesting fun things to do. Yesterday I
explained memory and study techniques, the way the brain stores
information and how to optimize sleep patterns to some of them, with good
results. The fun thing is, that by trying to explain things you learn them
better yourself, give hope to the kids (I live in the quite "less than
fashionable" area Hagalund, and most of the kids are immigrant kids) and
spread transhuman memes to the people who will grow up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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