[extropy-chat] that bad old internet

[Spike]

> SDAs are, IMO, one of the most retard of Xian sects.
> [Just thought I'd add that gratuitous religious insult to 
> round off the discussion... Dirk

Be good to them Dirk, they may save your life some day.  Follow me:

A few weeks ago I referenced the hapless Baptists, who have a notion in
their basic teachings that all goodness comes from god, therefore all
legitimate ethical notions are found in the bible, therefore since
slavery is not specifically forbidden in the bible, it must be OK.  This
is among other absurdities that follow from the flawed premise.

The Seventh Day Adventist has a somewhat related situation. They have a
long and specific list of taboos, revealed directly to the modern
prophet Ellen G. White.  

But anything that is not on that forbidden list is allowed.

Over the years I have witnessed a number of attempts to add new taboos
to this long and specific list.  I find it remarkable that *not one* of
those attempts has been successful, not a single one.

This has some interesting consequences, for the SDAs have a modern
medical facility: Loma Linda University in southern
Taxifornia.  It is well known that if you have some wacky research idea,
Loma Linda has a notoriously open-minded ethics board: they will allow
anything that does not conflict with the previously mentioned long list
of taboos.  An example is the Baby Fae experiment that you may recall
from the 1980s in which a baboon heart was transplanted into a human
infant.  Done at Loma Linda.  There is nothing in the sacred texts that
specifically forbid it.  

This read-my-lips-no-new-no-nos concept results in the Seventh Day
Adventists being the *only* xian church (that I know of) that holds an
official pro-choice stance.  There are other churches that hold no
position perhaps, but SDA stands alone in being officially and
specifically pro-choice.  Good for them.  

Cloning?  Adventists stand alone among xian denominations as coming out
officially in favor.  Stem cell research?  Sure.  Genetic manipulation?
The more the merrier, for they do this research with calm confidence,
knowing that biblical and Ellen-White-ical prophecy says nothing about
the world being devoured by goo of any color.  The girl I dated before I
met my wife is as staunch SDA as anyone you will ever meet.  She got her
PhD in biology from Purdue and is now a researcher in genetic
engineering, with no cognitive dissonance whatsoever.  Hey, the
prophetess didn't say it was wrong, so it must be right.  Right?

Several of my computer science friends that went to SDA colleges were
discussing artificial intelligence way back in the early 80s, before
there was an extropian list or the internet.  We even discussed the
singularity, even tho we did not call it by that name.  We speculated
that computers would eventually reach human level intelligence and
rewrite their own software, causing an open loop feedback system.

Loma Linda University follows the tradition of SDA Doctor John Harvey
Kellogg, the inventor of corn flakes and other vegetarian foods, who was
always experimenting with new techniques to treat his patients.  Dirk,
if you or I get prostate cancer, we can go to Loma Linda to be treated
in their proton accelerator, which painlessly radiates the tumor,
leaving us able to copulate and not piss on ourselves.  In my admittedly
very limited statistical sample, the three prostate cancer patients I
know personally who had their tumors cut out are all dead.  The two I
know personally who had their tumors irradiated at LLU are alive and
well.  Think about it.

As for being the "most retard of the xian sects", I think the better
adjective might be the most *retro* of the xians.  This is
understandable, for the 20th century was not supposed to happen, never
mind the 21st.  There are plenty of good SDAs that are in some ways
retrogressing to the 19th century,  for this century is not their home.
In this at least, most of us here share their discomfort, for our
extropian hearts and minds belong in the 22nd century.

SDA is your friend, Dirk.

spike