[extropy-chat] ENOUGH already

[Robert J. Bradbury]

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003, Damien Broderick wrote:

> [9: "The Morality of Extremism," Extropian Web digest, April 18 and 19,
> 2002. It should be noted that the discussion of violence was a rare
> exception on this particular Web forum, which is generally starry-eyed but
> peaceful.] p. 240

Interestingly -- if you trace this back through the subject switching
and the *MANY* posts by many list members it goes back to a post I
made on April 4, 2002 on the subject of "POLITICS: grim prospects".

I was commenting on a NY Times article and quoted as follows:

> Sheik Yassin said: "The Palestinian people are not the same as they were
> in 1967," when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza, "or during the first
> intifada," from 1987 to 1991. "At that time nobody knew how to make
> explosives. "But now," he added, "everybody knows, and Israel will never
> be stable again."

Next time I start a discussion about POLITICS remind me that it may
yield very mixed blessings.

Damien -- if you can find an email/snail mail/publisher address for the
author please send it to me offlist.  I'd like to send him a note about
his depth of research and why a hard-core extropian (and a utilitarian
such as myself) would consider minimizing the power of people who
directly or indirectly block the survival of a much greater quantity
of information.  Its a question of *where* to draw the line -- do
you knock the foundation out from underneath a westerner if it allows
you to uplift a dozen or more Indians or Chinese?  That isn't even
the analysis the Palestinians or Al Queda are making -- they are
simply going with "you have the power, we don't and so whatever is
necessary to bring you down to our level we will do".  I think there
are some interesting ethical debates that might be had between the
current classes of terrorists (from Palestinians to Al Queda to radical
Greens) to Extropians (who presumably are trying to save (or produce?)
the greatest quantity of information possible.

R.