[extropy-chat] Re: Encryption revolution

[Harvey Newstrom]

Christian Weisgerber wrote,
> It's a straightforward case of self-selection.  As Eugen has 
> pointed out, extended participation in online fora is usually 
> incompatible with getting things done.  Those people actually 
> working on >H goals are, well, busy working.  Those that 
> remain here (and likely most that were attracted in the first 
> place) are those that don't offer anything but talk.

This is a historical problem.  People who actually get busy doing real work
tend to drop off the list.  People who don't have anything better to do tend
to appear here.  Many people on the edge, tend to pop in and out over the
years.  Many of the movers and shakers from the original movements have gone
off to pursue their own agendas elsewhere.  Somehow, none of these agendas
ever actually get implemented here.

> I'm still as much a transhumanist as I was when I first heard 
> about it, but over the last few years I have become severely 
> disillusioned about the extropian and transhumanist 
> _movement_.  It's a fanboy club that exerts no influence 
> whatsoever on actual technological or social development and 
> that will probably be overrun in the medium term by the 
> progress happening in the real world.

This is 100% true.  I know people will deny it, because it's no fun
admitting it.  But most of the examples of people doing things involve
"fanboy" activities.  Creating websites about this stuff, writing books
about this stuff, holding chats about this stuff, holding conferences about
this stuff, etc.  All of it is just talk.  It used to be that nobody was
talking about this stuff except us.  But in this millennium, everybody is
talking about it.  Sadly, our books aren't best sellers.  Our websites
aren't insanely popular.  Our leaders aren't on the cutting edge of any
technologies.  We aren't inventing new things.  We are just creatively
imagining what might be.  While the companies actually working in these
fields and the governments actually guiding these advancements are paying
little if any attention to us.

We are not only on the fringe of humanity, but we are on the fringe of
transhumanity.  We are not centrally involved in real nanotech, AI,
robotics, cloning, and immortality.  All of our organizations are fans of
these technologies, but not developers of these technologies.  Even our
organizations that claim to be developers of technologies are little more
than clearinghouses for other people's news releases about other people's
advances.

The future is not being invented here!  And we will never fix this problem
until enough of us recognize the truth.

-- 
Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, CISA, CISM, IAM, IBMCP, GSEC
Certified IS Security Pro, Certified IS Auditor, Certified InfoSec Manager,
NSA Certified Assessor, IBM Certified Consultant, SANS Certified GIAC
<HarveyNewstrom.com> <Newstaff.com>