From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Mar 09 1999 - 09:29:20 MST
1. It just occurred to me that someone might want to print that out and
post it up somewhere, or, for that matter, order a single T-Shirt from a friend.
http://pobox.com/~sentience/t-shirt/extropian.jpg
is hereby declared FREE for private usage only; that is, as long as you
don't sell it. Print it out, xerox it, mail it to a friend, etc.
This does NOT apply to the Singularity images. Thinking about it, maybe
"private insignia" is the wrong term to use, but I don't have the
name-brand recognition to declare it the official insignia of the
Singularity. To use Mitchell Porter's term, it is only for the usage of
Yudkowskian Singularitarians.
2. You don't need to read both sides of the Singularity T-Shirt.
They're the same, except that where side 1 reads "If computing power
doubles every eighteen months, what happens when computers are doing the
research?", side 2 reads "If technology is produced by intelligence,
what happens when intelligence is improved by technology?"
3. Pronounced out loud, the T-Shirt should be read as follows:
"WE are the EXTROPIANS."
"WE are the champions of ULTRATECHNOLOGY."
"WE believe in science, intelligence, freedom, and rational thought."
"WE do not believe in ignorance, pain, stupidity, death, or income
taxes, and we intend to do something about it."
"WE will drag this planet, kicking and screaming, into the awesome and
unknowable FUTURE."
"WE will do it before our parents die of old age."
You may then explain any of the ultratechnologies listed as your friend
asks about them.
You do not have to pronounce the copyright.
Fun Thing To Do: Get a large room full of people (probably at Extro 4)
to recite this in unison. Tape it, MP3 it, and put it on the 'Net; I
want to hear it. Might make a nice closing ceremony or something.
4. Max More has the Principles, TOMorrow has the Declaration, Natasha
has the Manifesto. But the forms of memetic engineering involved in
producing a set of rational principles, an introductory Web page, a
manifesto, a definition, and *slogans* are not remotely similar.
It does look to me, given the VAST STORM OF APPLAUSE, like there was an
unfilled market for a set of slogans and a 30-second explanation, an
"Extropian creed" you can recite to a friend or stick on your office
door or a coffee mug or a shirt or a tattoo or whatever.
5. The best part about slogans: If you go around wearing a T-Shirt
saying "We are the champions of ultratechnology" and "We will do it
before our parents die of old age", then you feel obliged to actually go
out and do it. This is one of the reasons why "champions" has replaced
"advocates", despite the hubris; it's not just the ring, it's that
people will try to live up to it.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
http://pobox.com/~sentience/singul_arity.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.
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