[extropy-chat] late response to Dan/Technotranscendence

[Kevin Freels]

I happen to agree with you about the majority.

I am still working on my human evolution research and this is something I
have been pondering for a while. Is there a real genetic difference between
the "sighted" as you call them, and the unsighted? Is it a spontaneous
mutation? (I'd like to have Eli's response on this as well). Or is it a
purely cultural phenomenon?
Along the same lines, is there a link between "intelligence" and
self-awareness? It seems to me that the people who are "sighted" also happen
to be less aware of themselves and their rnvironment. You see them every day
driving down the road for 20 miles with the turn signal on. They have no
idea who is next to them when they are sitting at a stop light and when they
are car-jacked, it comes as a total surprise while I tend to think I would
notice someone approaching my car so that I could take evasive actions.
(Hmmm, I wonder if accident rates are higher for those as well. I've only
been in one collision and I was rear-ended and had no place to go. Insurance
companies could have fun with this!)

Are we really different, or is it just our culture and environment? If we
are different, then that would explain the slow pace of advancement for the
first 150,000 years of our species. Maybe only 1 in 200,000 is a tool
"maker" while the rest are simply tool "users". A tool "maker" would have
been very rare then. I wonder if enough CAT scans and MRIs of two groups,
the "sighted" and "unsighted" would show any real difference.

As far as voting goes, the only option to letting everyone vote is allowing
only the "sighted" to vote. The problem ? Who decides which one you are?

Kevin


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "rick" <aperick at centurytel.net>
To: <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 9:29 PM
Subject: [extropy-chat] late response to Dan/Technotranscendence


> Voting:
>
> One problem I have with the idea of voting is that I can always be
> certain that I will be among a very small minority. Perhaps I have a
> belief that the overwhelming majority of folk are massively stupid as
> part of their "god-given" genetic composition. I could tell you all
> where that belief comes from but you may just tell me that my personal
> experiences and judgments etcetera. do not amount to conclusive
> evidence. I would counter by trying to explain that my life experience
> has been a bizarre one and that none of you are at all likely to have
> found yourselves in a position to have witnessed what I have ...
>
> I'd really prefer that you all just trust me on this one. We are sorely
> outnumbered. If we could see the situation clearly, if the founding
> fathers of the USA could have seen into the future ... well, things just
> may have been a little different. Am I to be called a bigot for saying
> that only the sighted should be given the responsibility of leading the
> blind?
>
>
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