[extropy-chat] Extropy Institute Newsletter

Wed May 12 20:24:12 UTC 2004

Extropy Institute Newsletter
PROACTIONARY PRINCIPLE ISSUED (05.12.04)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greetings!

This month's newsletter is featuring 
The Proactionary 
Principle, a topic of Extropy Institute's 
recent Vital Progress Summit I, 2004. The 
Proactionary Principle is authored by Max More, 
based in large part on the Summit and the keynotes' 
statements, Summit participants' discussions, and 
everyone who contributed their time and 
skills to the proceedings.

In Memory of Roy Walford, Extropy Institute's 
advisor, 
colleague and 
close friend. It is 
in his memory that we continue to work toward 
proaction, as Roy was a strong supporter of critical 
thinking and moving beyond unrealistic retraints placed 
on society. Roy was the true Rennaissance Man. We 
miss 
him dearly.
 
A second Exponent Newsletter will be coming out this 
month with ideas on our transhumanist culture, 
upcoming summer conferences, and how to submit your 
ideas and talents to "TAC" for the TransVision 2004 
Conference.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* The Proactionary Principle
* Looking at the Principle
* A Tribute To Roy Walford
* Robert Freitas speaks about <i>Nanomedicine, Volume IIA: Biocompatibility </i>

The Proactionary Principle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People's freedom to innovate technologically is highly 
valuable, even critical, to humanity.

This implies several imperatives when restrictive 
measures are proposed:

Assess risks and opportunities according to available 
science, not popular perception.

Account for both the costs of the restrictions 
themselves and those of opportunities foregone. 
 
Favor measures that are proportionate to the 
probability and magnitude of impacts and that have a 
high expectation value. Protect people's 
freedom 
to experiment, innovate, and progress.

The Proactionary Principle >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.cxlwl9n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Fproactionaryprinciple.htm

Looking at the Principle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We held the VP Summit with a goal in mind. That goal 
was to address President Bush's Bioethics Committee's 
Beyond Therapy report. Keynotes at the 
Summit wrote they views about this report and the use 
of the Precautionary Principle as a rallying tool against 
the reasonable use of technology to help people 
overcome disease and injuries, and to improve the 
human condition. We spent the 
past two months reviewing the material and comments 
made by Summit attendees.

Max More, a philosopher known for his level-headed 
thinking scholary intellection, looks at:

- Unpacking the Proactionary Principle, we 
arrive at 
these factors to take into account ... (read on)
 
- A Proactionary Alternative to the 
Precautionary 
Principle ... (read on)
 
- Principle Against Progress ... (read on)
 
- What's wrong with the Precautionary 
Principle? ... 
(read on)

The Essence of the Proactionary Principle 
 The Proactionary Principle stands for the proactive 
pursuit of progress. Being proactive involves not only 
anticipating before acting, but learning by acting. When 
technological progress is halted, people lose an 
essential freedom and the accompanying opportunities 
to learn through diverse experiments. We already suffer 
from an undeveloped capacity for rational decision 
making. Prohibiting technological change will only stunt 
that capacity further. Continuing needs to alleviate 
global human suffering and desires to achieve human 
flourishing should make obvious the folly of stifling our 
freedom to learn.

Let a thousand flowers bloom! By all means, inspect the 
flowers for signs of infestation and weed as necessary. 
But don't cut off the hands of those who spread the 
seeds of the future.

Looking at the principle ... >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.cxlwl9n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Fproactionaryprinciple.htm

A Tribute To Roy Walford
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the passing of Roy Walford, the bright glow of our 
species flickered and dimmed. Roy was one of many 
thousands of human beings whose lives terminated on 
April 27, 2004. But he was not just one of the many; 
Roy was a true individual, a character, and a champion 
of values we hold dear.

Roy was an expert practitioner of Nietzsche's "great 
and rare art" of "giving style to one's character". No 
one would describe him as a loud-mouth or show-off, 
yet his distinctive way of living and looking at the world 
made an impression on others. When you think of Roy, 
you might think of his academic research, or his 
pioneering and unrelenting advocacy of extending the 
human lifespan. Or you might think of the impressive 
mustache he sports on some book jackets.

If you had the good fortune to know Roy more 
personally, quite different impressions might come to 
mind: Perhaps you think of Roy the frequent global 
traveler and natural anthropologist, or as a gentle but 
powerful magnet that drew attractive, younger women 
into his orbit. You might wonder how someone could be 
a widely respected scientist and simultaneously display 
in his bathroom a poster that made broadcast its 
message in such a painfully pointed way. You might 
puzzle over Roy's capacity for welcoming and enjoying 
the hedonic aspects of life *and* advocating rigorous 
caloric restriction.  In describing (or eulogizing) the 
great and rare art, Nietzsche made explicit the 
conditions of giving style to your character, of shaping 
all your strengths and weaknesses into an "an artistic 
plan until everything appears as art and reason". Those 
who succeeded "enjoyed their finest gaiety in such 
compulsion, in such constraint and perfection under a 
law of their own". Most of us aren't good at living under 
a law of our own, walking the line between tyrannical 
discipline and reckless or irresponsible dereliction. Roy 
was a law of his own, in the demanding and complete 
sense intended by the German who philosophized with a 
hammer.

... (read on)

A Tribute to Roy >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.dxlwl9n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Froywalford.htm

Robert Freitas speaks about Nanomedicine, Volume IIA: Biocompatibility 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We spoke to Robert today and this is what he had to 
say about his new book: 
"I expanded the original Chapter 15 of Nanomedicine 
Vol. II into a full 
book-length treatment (Vol. IIA), in part because most 
of the questions I 
was getting from medical people about nanorobotic 
medicine pertained to 
biocompatibility issues. I was being asked how the 
immune system would 
react to nanorobots; whether people could develop 
allergic reactions to 
these devices; whether or not white cells would 
attempt to eat nanorobots 
placed inside the human body; whether nanorobots 
would cause itching 
sensations; and so forth. So I decided to take the first 
comprehensive look 
at all of these issues, and the result is Nanomedicine, 
Vol. IIA. One 
interesting result of this work is the realization that 
phagocyte avoidance 
and escape protocols will be very important for medical 
nanorobots -- the 
book discusses about a dozen ways of doing this.

"First published in
hardcover by Landes Bioscience in 2003, this 
As for the future, besides continuing my work on the 
Nanomedicine technical 
book series I'm also trying to provide technical support 
to help push 
forward the safe development of molecular 
nanotechnology (MNT) as fast as 
possible. To this end, I've recently co-authored a 
technical book with 
Ralph Merkle entitled Kinematic Self-Replicating 
Machines 
http://www.MolecularAssembler.com/KSRM.htm 
(due to be published in August 
2004); substantial pre-publication discount available 
directly from the 
publisher, at landesbioscience.com.  I'm 
also working on some practical implementation steps 
towards diamond 
mechanosynthesis -- my recent papers on this subject 
are cited at 
http://www.rfreitas.com/NanoPubls.htm, and a 
technical book on diamond 
mechanosynthesis is in preparation."

"Please check out 
the IMM website for 
news on the IMM Freitas Research Fund, and how you 
can directly support my 
research efforts and help me help make the future 
happen!"

Thank you Rob for sending us your thoughts on your 
new book. Congratulations are in order, and we hope it 
is a great success!

The second volume in the Nanomedicine book series by 
Robert A. Freitas Jr.,
Nanomedicine, Vol. IIA: Biocompatibility, is now freely 
available online in
its entirety (see below).

<i>Nanomedicine, Volume IIA: Biocompatibility </i> >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.exlwl9n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nanomedicine.com%2FNMIIA.htm

TransVision 2004:  Submit your Videos, websites and net.art ! >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.fxlwl9n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.transhumanist.biz

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extropy Institute >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.nlr4mzn6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fnew.extropy.org%2F
The Proactionary Principle >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.cxlwl9n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Fproactionaryprinciple.htm
How do I join ExI? >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.hozkwwn6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Fmembership.htm
What about the Extropy email list? >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.lozkwwn6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Femaillists.htm
Tribute to Roy Walford >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k9poi9n6.rmatvyn6.dxlwl9n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Froywalford.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: info at extropy.org
voice: 512 263-2749
web: http://www.extropy.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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