[extropy-chat] POLITICS: terrorism and strategies

[Adrian Tymes]

--- "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury at aeiveos.com> wrote:
> I am using the problem of people with irrational
> beliefs
> and how one deals with them (getting people to
> change
> beliefs is a *very very* hard problem) as a lead in
> into the potential problem of what happens if they
> decide that people with extropian or transhumanistic
> perspectives should be subjected to the beheading
> ritual (or worse the bring back the concept of
> impalement).
> They have tended to pick targest on a random
> (workers
> in foreign countries) or symbolic (the WTC) basis.
> What happens when they decide we actually represent
> a threat?

"They" being terrorists and the like, I already make
that assumption.  I will not travel to much of the
world, out of a suspicion that my life would be in
significant danger due to my beliefs and what I
practice.  There is, of course, some minimal danger
even in industrialized countries, but it is far less
here than elsewhere.

There is also the factor of convenience.  The WTC was
a giant symbol in one place.  Foreign workers in their
countries happen to be close by.  But even if
Al-Quaeda decided tomorrow that all Extropians were
its top target, we are both dispersed and remote;
attacking even one of us would require significant
resources, and attacking enough of us to make a
difference (to say nothing of succeeding in said
attacks) would be so far beyond their means that they
know it and are extremely unlikely to try it.