[extropy-chat] Brett asked for it, atheism, MTEBE, and the other AI

[aperick at centurytel.net]

Great, I for one am having fun now. My "intellectual case for atheism" -
well, my position is one of having been convinced by the evidence that
everything makes sense without gods -- and an existent god makes no sense.
One should only believe according to evidence. And by evidence I mean
verifiable evidence as would be accepted by those most schooled and
respected in the ways of science. Additionally, when I look at the various
religions, from the outside, they all look very stupid indeed - filled with
silliness. Their 'explanations' being just what one would expect from a fake
source of truth.

In my novella Brett sees the following as being "internally inconsistent."
The lack of regard for children (generally) given John's own 'emergence'
from pretty pedestrian parents.

:Rick: I cannot yet see it as an inconsistency, but I'll try, if helped.

Brett also questions "the handling and status of children." In Ayn Rand's
two fat fat novels.

:Rick: I was once the biggest Rand freak ever, but I cannot now recall her
treatment of kids. As a radical transhuman, the child thing can go the way
of the feces thing. Wow that's wicked harsh - I sound like a sick puppy. I
am just so sick of flossing and tending to other health issues; I seem to be
losing the view of life -- as its being sacred and all. I wonder just how
alone I am in this, age may be a factor here - and one's general health.
(I'm 44) Certainly no healthy young person would fail to consider all life
as sacred? The down sides of life being, personally, far off.

Brett also writes:  (The eugenics case is not that strong in my view).

:Rick: I had almost deleted the whole eugenics topic. To me it just seemed
like a reasonable personal practice. I did not want to think of eugenics as
a function of any governing body. I realize that very few people will think
of it as I do. If I should ever "publish" the novella I would pull the whole
topic. Currently, my purpose for the existence of the novella is more for
personal growth and maybe some cruising, as mentioned in the after-word.

:Brett: But this line about love "The highest love is love of self. The next
highest is love of someone who is nearly identical to one's self -- an
offspring, if in the past one has been silly or reckless...." - This didn't
work for me.

:Rick: I can see how this will rub most parents in an uncomfortable way. But
as you can see below; in context the quote is from John - its intent is to
show how firmly he is committed to radical transhuman goals. I am trying to
show that, for John, it would have to be silly or reckless for HIM to father
children. That he already sees breeding as "old school." I know that that
does not logically follow. There is no reason that he should not still
father a child just because he is a radical transhumanist. But to John,
there is no reason that he should. BUT I THINK THAT PERHAPS I WILL PULL PART
OF THIS LINE. It has always felt a bit ... icky. The only reason it appeared
in the first place is because much of John's young life is taken from my
own. At the age of twenty, I fathered a child with my barely
eighteen-year-old gal-pal. Possibly viewable as silly and reckless.

John's parents bought into most all the absurd ideas common in Christianity;
God loves us all equally, requires us to do the same, and endless similar
drivel. When, obviously, love means nothing if it does not mean loving some
people more than others. It was obvious to John, and he would tell you. "The
highest love is love of self. The next highest is love of someone who is
nearly identical to one's self--an offspring, if in the past one has been
silly or reckless, or perhaps a close comrade."

:As for MTEBE: Jacques. I abandoned the further development of the Emacs
version to rewrite it as a normal Windows application. I got a start on it,
learned how to spawn a thread and capture keystrokes while other
applications had focus. But the world of windows programming just
overwhelmed me. That sort of ap was way too unusual/advanced for a beginner
like me. I also quit using MTEBE, not sure all of why, a new Palm device was
one reason, oh and there is one ugly little bug in the Emacs version that
still eludes me. It does not much affect the functionality. It has to do
with some lisp and such, as best I can now recall. I will dig it up and ask
for your help with it - may take me a week or two.

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