[extropy-chat] Transhumanism: Social Equality and Politics

[David Lubkin]

Robert J. Bradbury wrote:

>I do not believe that it would be wise (or even possible)
>to attempt to merge transhumanism with politics.

I found your typically insightful posting marred by an inaccurate 
generalization --

>You are correct in pointing out that politics is in large
>part about power (IMO).  We can see that with the political
>(aka religious) factions in Iraq currently.  It extends
>to the Jews and Palestinians (I'm using the word Jew
>intentionally to imply someone who believes that Israel
>belongs to the Jews rather than someone who might live
>in Israel).  And then one has the right wing and/or
>born again Christians in the U.S.
>
>The first problem is that these people function on the basis of faith 
>rather than reason.  ...  It ranges from difficult to impossible to 
>"reason" with someone whose life is based on faith.

Perhaps we need the disambiguation that Spike and I discussed not long ago. 
By your examples, you suggest that faith refers to "a system of religious 
belief" [1] but then use it in its sense of "belief not based in proof" [2] 
and present it as incompatible with reason.

A majority of Israelis of Jewish ethnicity lack religious belief, as well 
as a sizeable fraction of ethnic Jews elsewhere. Presumably the irreligious 
also exist in Iraq, among Palestinians, and in the US right wing.

They may reach the same policy positions as the religious but their 
justification differs. This difference may leave them more amenable to 
compromise or negotiation. ("We must keep this land because God/Allah gave 
it to us" differs from "We must keep this land because we face annihilation 
if we relinquish it.")

As for faith-2 being incompatible with reason, any chain of logic begins 
with axioms and premises. We all must accept some matters as axiomatic, 
although we may on occasion speculate as to their validity.

I think you and I differ from "a man of faith-1" not in the use of reason 
but in our desire and efforts to minimize our regions of faith-2.


-- David Lubkin.


PS -- This posting marks my first conscious attempt to post in E-Prime. In 
practicing, I already encountered one statement I found difficult to 
express clearly in E-Prime: "Friday is John's birthday." I needed untenable 
circumlocution. Any ideas?