From: Robert Owen (rowen@technologist.com)
Date: Mon Oct 11 1999 - 12:25:30 MDT
Sayke@aol.com wrote:
> what? and waste all that valuable protein? ;)
>
> > ........................................................................it is
> > in his best interests to avoid the APPEARANCE of selfishness and that
> > displaying the respect you describe is the easiest way to induce the
> > cooperation of others.
>
> ... isnt this what we do any time we sit back, smile, and nod? "normal"
> people regularly put on layers and layers of emotional facades...
Sayke, since you have a lively sense of humor, I'm going to assume that
some of your statements are ironical and provocative. The essential motive
for my posts is a desire to engage in "networked cognition" for the analysis
of difficult social issues. "Individualism Reconsidered" by David Reismann some
years ago was an early effort to discover whether "self-determination" in
the context of a densely interdependent social matrix, i.e. contemporary
technological society, had any real meaning.
So think about this: is "Extropian Commune" an oxymoron?
For example, in the event of massively disruptive social sabotage by any
current terrorist organization (and I am in a position to know that there is
no workable firewall in place, that we are totally vulnerable to e.g. Anthrax
agents and small plutonium-based ordinance), could Extropians organize
small communes that required intense cooperation with an emphasis on
group rather than self actualization? Is there any alternative here to
a paramilitary model requiring the imposition of discipline when necessary?
Bob
=======================
Robert M. Owen
Director
The Orion Institute
57 W. Morgan Street
Brevard, NC 28712-3659 USA
=======================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:05:29 MST