From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri Dec 11 1998 - 16:37:14 MST
"Steven Cordich" <calrissian@hotbot.com> writes:
> Having recently read Extropian goals of moving beyond dogmatic types
>thinking, perhaps I'm guilty of dogmatic thinking myself when I point
>out what seems to be a rather sharp division between some peoples
>views of Leary and Wilson and Max More's listing them as recommeded
>reading. My time is limited, so could somebody clarify what I'm
>missing here.
The simple explanation is that people simply disagree over the value
of Wilson's writings. It should also be added that Eli tends to be a
bit... ehum... categorical.
Wilson is an intelligent man who likes to challenge traditional
thinking, and he has probably helped more people than I can count with
breaking free of constrained views of the world through his novels and
books. In this respect he is quite extropian, especially since he also
advocates a lot of the stuff we want - life extension, freedom, mental
development far beyond the human level, cryonics etc. The problem
with Wilson is that he can be uncritical - he is always happy to play
with the latest heresy but not to scrutinize if it holds water
(instead, if pressed, he jumps to a new heresy) - and often likes to
mix serious ideas with jokes or even elaborate double-level messages
that may or may not be what he is really meaning. Tricky to decide
what he is *really* saying, and not everybodys cup of tea.
I would recommend Wilson as an eye-opener, but I wouldn't trust him as
a guide for a moment. We need critical thinking, not just wide open
minds.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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