Always?

From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Wed Aug 12 1998 - 09:09:32 MDT


TriStateF@aol.com writes:

> There are always going to be stereotypes and generalities with every group of
> people, at least it has been that way.

I think we need to have some warning sticker on the word "always",
like on the cigarette packages: "The General Semantics Surgeon warns:
careless use of the word "always" may lead to incorrect
generalisations and mental pitfalls. Use with caution, especially
among extropians" :-)

Is it possible to remove stereotypes and generalities among advancing
trans- and posthumans? Cognitively, we likely will need our category
prototypes, weakly founded generalisations and assumptions made on
insufficient information to work in the real world, so some will
likely remain unless we can all become Zen masters and just see the
world as it is all the time, but it seems quite possible to find ways
to reduce their semantic harm, for example by E-prime and similar
linguistic tools, some education in applied cognitive psychology and
ways of greacefully defuse them. Any ideas?

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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