From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Date: Tue Mar 25 1997 - 16:58:37 MST
GeoffCobb@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 97-03-24 21:25:34 EST, you write:
>
> <<
> Bottom line is: transhumanists *are* close to Nazis in the sense of
> wanting to create better people. They differ from Nazis in not trying
> to achieve this goal by killing off "inferior" people. But Nazis are
> such a reviled prototype that simple heuristic case-based inference
> (anything too much reminiscint of Nazis must be bad) *does* make many
> people reject the whole enterprize.
> >>
>
> You are correct that this is an emotional heuristic, quite a knee jerker too.
> I understand the connection here, and agree that there is a connection "in
> mind"
> between transhumanism and eugenics. However, the Nazi comparison is one that
> we might want to handle delicately and swiftly. Facism and (conquering)
> imperialism both have no place in future politics and do not support economic
> freedom nor individual freedom, two very fundamental stepping stones to any
> sort of "Politi-Extropica" . Making people better is only *one* very
> fundamental aspect of Extropy, and to take what you say one step further, not
> only do we oppose 'killing off inferior people', we oppose force of any sort,
> even for inferiors, and even "for thier own good".
The main distinction to make between us and them, is to distinguish what
is meant by "improving people". Nazis and their ilk had a preset
template of their "ubermann". We do not. We see each individual having
the power to determine for themselves what they need to do to meet their
own definition of "improvement". WHther one person wishes to be a pure
upload, while someone else may want to morph themselves into a catwoman,
or an aquaton, it does nto matter, except to the individual. It is this
central characteristic that inextricably links transhumanism to
libertarianism, and why we cannot separate the two, unless we wish to
pursue the sort of corporate communal overmind that would be a nazis
dream.
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey
------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:retroman@tpk.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com
Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/
Mikey's Animatronic Factory
My Own Nuclear Espionage Agency (MONEA)
MIKEYMAS(tm): The New Internet Holiday
Transhumans of New Hampshire (>HNH)
------------------------------------------------------------
#!/usr/local/bin/perl-0777---export-a-crypto-system-sig-RC4-3-lines-PERL
@k=unpack('C*',pack('H*',shift));for(@t=@s=0..255){$y=($k[$_%@k]+$s[$x=$_
]+$y)%256;&S}$x=$y=0;for(unpack('C*',<>)){$x++;$y=($s[$x%=256]+$y)%256;
&S;print pack(C,$_^=$s[($s[$x]+$s[$y])%256])}sub S{@s[$x,$y]=@s[$y,$x]}
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