[extropy-chat] The next steps for individuals (was: Aw Nuts! Bush Wins...)

[Amara Graps]

Natasha:
>>  What can our organizations, such as Extropy Institute, do to promote good
>>  relations between ourselves and others throughout the world?  That is a
>>  first step.

Given the strong individualist personalities here, I think that one can
add to the above: "What can *individuals* do to promote good relations
between ourselves and others throughout the world?"

Hal Finney:
>I think that's a great question.  Of course, ExI is not a major player on
>the world stage and can't by itself rehabilitate America's international
>image.

After Bush is out, then I think that ten or twenty years will be needed
to recover its reputation (America's international image). It will be a
long road.

>But just by asking it, we are reminded that we are not our country.

Or rather, we are not our government.

I would like to say something about linking people to particular places
and governments.

During human interactions with those in our environments, many people
seem to need to fix a person to a place ("Where are you from?"), perhaps
in order to categorize that person in their mind. Because once they've
categorized that person, their interactions becomes easier: they can use
a mental lookup table to form hypotheses, conclusions, 'facts' or
prejudices, in order to know what behavior to use in order to proceed in
that interaction. It's natural, because it can be scary (unconsciously)
to interact with strangers, so then categorizing another person helps to
overcome a person's fears.

You know that I don't like categorization and 'group thinking', but to
some extent, all of us use it in our daily lives. I think a worthwhile
goal for improving one's inner state is to catch it and try to break it,
in ourselves, or if we have energy, in others,  when it happens. Starting
with stereotypes.

Stereotypes are all around us.  Individuals initiate them, media and
governments amplify them, and a feedback loop is in motion. It's hard work
to filter what is possibly real and what is probably fiction. I try very
hard, in the places where I live, to gather alot of data, treat people as
individuals, and in my most critical mindset, I expect people to treat
me the same (that is, with no stereotypes). I knew some of the
stereotypes that the U.S. media/culture/government presented about other
countries outside before I moved away from the U.S. I've learned, since
I moved out, of some of the U.S. stereotypes that nonU.S.
media/culture/government give. So then what can individuals in this
extropian/transhuman community do? Try to break the stereotypes.
Put this thought in the back of your mind and bring to the forefront
when you feel ready to tackle it.

Perhaps you will be lucky (because this is the best way) to be in a
foreign place and such an opportunity will be placed in your forefront
without any effort. For example:

[one conversation with an old Italian man 8 months ago on the
train between Frascati and Rome]

him: "Where are you from?"

me: "I was born in Hawaii."

him: "Nice life there isn't it? But do they have good food there?
You Americans like McDonalds for your food."

me: "I don't remember when I ate McDonalds food last. Perhaps
five years ago I ate something from McDonalds."

him: "Then what do you eat?"

me: "I like fresh fruit and vegetables and fresh seafood."

him: "Oh! Italians like that too."

------

[one conversation with a medium age Turkish man several years ago
at the dentist office in Heidelberg]

him: "Where are you from?"

me: "I am from California"

him: "Oh! I've never visited there. I _do_ want to visit but I don't
like your president, so I don't want to visit California for very long."

me: "I didn't vote for the U.S. president."

him: "But why did other Americans?"

me: "I don't know. I think that September 11 triggered a huge
fear in some Americans, and they feel safer with that man."

him: "Well, I don't like him. Do you know what I want to do
in California?"

me: "No, tell me."

him: "I want to see the Pacific Ocean, and feel it. Run from the sand on
the beach and tip my toes in the wonderful ocean, and then leave
California. That is enough for me."

me: "It is a nice image. A dream you can work for."


When I lived in the U.S. (38 years), I was annoyed that 'my society',
that is, culture, media, etc. in the U.S. places where I lived gave such
stereotypical or else little attention to the world outside of its
borders. I wanted more data, so then with a PhD potential, I moved to
Germany. Immediately, I stepped outside of the stereotypes, and I played
around for a while with the idea of assuming different identities. I was
'free'  to try on different personnas, perspectives, viewpoints, and it
was a liberating feeling to discover that I could be whatever I wanted
without the U.S. baggage. At the end of this discovery, I found that I was
most comfortable with no masks, no assumed baggage, at all. I liked (and
still like) this maskless way of living a great deal.

However, the question: "Where are you from?" is something from which I
could not escape. What do I answer? I don't like governments, and after
Bush was elected, his administration become something I especially
didn't agree with, so saying "United States" was out of the question for
me. If I answered with particular states like Hawaii, California, then I
could see in the other person's eyes, the stereotypes attached with those
places (Hawaii: "paradise", California: "wacky"), but for a while:
California was a good working answer. Then I moved to Italy, and it no
longer worked either.

[Accidently I brought my language class to hysterical laughter when I
answered 'California' - they thought that my answering with a state when
the correct answer was a country was very goofy. "And was I born in
California?" "No I was not, I was born in Hawaii, but I have not lived
in Hawaii in 30 years." "But you should have said that. Aren't you
Hawaiian?" "No I am not Hawaiian. I'm half Latvian, one-quarter Greek,
one-quarter German." "Oh! So then you are from Latvia." "No I am not,
but my father was born in Riga. He lives in the US, now" ... and so on.
This is the kind of confusion I encounter in my (rather provincial)
little Italian town, where I live.]


>By asking what we can do, as individuals united with common beliefs,
>we emphasize that our individual actions must be distinguished from
>the collective actions taken in our name by nations and other political
>bodies.

It's a two-way street with all of our interactions. No matter what each
of us think and feel with regards to our identification (or not) with
our government, state, city, family, etc., the person with whom we
interact has their own perspective of us (or rather, me, the
individual). So then a constantly recurring decision must be made: "Do I
spend the time/energy to communicate individual-to-individual, with no
masks and stereotypes, or do I slide by this opportunity because ... "
(fill in the blank: "I am tired", "I am in a hurry", etc.). You see, no
matter what our own perception is, communication involves (at least) two
people.

>Political bodies are not voluntary societies.

But in democracies there are votes. Many voting systems are not
perfect, but still, *some* people voted for that government.

Even though _I_ know, and _you_ know how deeply split the U.S. population
is/was over this election, it will be forgotten by many people out of
the U.S. in a short time, and then Bush will be seen as the
representative face. Bush was elected for a second term. That says
*something* about the American people.  The eyes looking on the U.S.
will, much more than before, closely align the American people with
their government, for this reason.

I think individuals like ourselves have our work cut out for us, to
separate ourselves from that government; if we so choose that task. I am
not very willing to do that now because I would much rather focus my
attention on other things. My own goal now is take care of my immediate
environment (myself, family, good friends). If I do a good enough job,
then what I succeed in my immediate world will spill out in my larger
world.


>The direction I would pursue in response to Natasha's question is simply
>to emphasize this reality.  We in the United States are not our country.
>Neither are Europeans their countries, or their continent.  Likewise with
>people in all parts of the world.  We are individuals, with individual
>beliefs.  Those beliefs are what should govern our interactions, not
>the views which happen to have a numerical majority in the region where
>we live.

Yes.. Sometimes, I _do_ try to get this point across (see below).

Amara


-------------November 29, 2002------------------------------------
To: extropians at extropy.org
From: Amara Graps <amara at amara.com>
Subject: Re: green-blue mudball (Re: ANTIOPTIMISM: Pakistan and North  Korea)

RonH:
>That's not true. At this level, you can indeed see "borders"--they
>look like fences and walls and uniformed men with guns. They are
>every bit as much a part of nature as trees and mountains. I would
>expect that kind "nature good, man bad" argument from Luddites, but
>I expect better from Amara.

It had nothing to do with "nature good, man bad", Lee. Alex understood
what I was getting at.

Here was the conversation again. If you want me to explain, then I will.

----------
RonH
>Perhaps I am being unduly harsh in my estimate of European strategy and
>I am certainly willing to listen but from here that is how it looks.

Amara Graps
>Last time I saw a photograph of the Earth from space, I did not
>notice any lines drawn on the land masses.

>From here, that is how it looks.

RonH
>Amara,
>What does that mean?

Here:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-2/html/iss002e5489.html

(beautiful isn't it?)

Amara

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-- 

Amara Graps, PhD
Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI)
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF),
Adjunct Assistant Professor Astronomy, AUR,
Roma, ITALIA     Amara.Graps at ifsi.rm.cnr.it