[extropy-chat] No Joy in Mudville

Emlyn emlynoregan at gmail.com
Fri Nov 5 03:56:56 UTC 2004


On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 19:33:06 -0800 (PST), Al Brooks <kerry_prez at yahoo.com> wrote:
> We can't be smarmy about it all the time, can we? Then
> we become suck-ups and schmoozers.
> 

Where's smarminess come in? Things really are going well. 

The world appears to be becoming gradually more free, temporary
movements in the opposite direction by major powers notwithstanding.
We seem to be becoming wealthier, we have a lot more options with
regard to technology, health, lifestyle. I get the general impression
that across the world, the movement is toward democracy and away from
totalitarianism.

Sure there is heaps to do, and the more we chip in and help the
better. Still, we musn't let the fear of change, and the disimilarity
of the present to a (partially fictitious) past we are more familiar
with hide the fact that things are better than ever.

Transhumanists as a whole have a lot to be optimistic about (excepting
maybe the overtly socialist faction). I think one of the biggest
issues we have in the west at present is that we (generally) don't
realise just how good we have it. People are only seeing the bad
stuff. We need to remind everyone (and ourselves) that personal
freedom and self direction are going gangbusters. Don't sell it short!

Happier people would make decisions we could all be proud of, I think,
rather than thinking and acting meanly as I see too many people do,
especially in areas like foreign policy. It *should* be a no brainer,
because there's a lot to be happy about.

> > > As transhumanists, a useful job would be one of
> > reassurance; lots of
> > > head patting and comforting... "there there, it's
> > ok, look out the
> > > window can you see it's a beautiful day? The world
> > your children and
> > > your grandchildren are inheriting and creating may
> > be weird and fast,
> > > but it is really good, better than you might have
> > dreamed."
> > >
> >
> >
> > This is a really good point. I try to do this at
> > times, but more often than
> > not, I get going about how great the future is going
> > to be and end up
> > scaring the hell out of people. Often I am reminded
> > that these are "obvious"
> > hints that Armageddon is upon us (again).
> > I really should spend a bit more time head-patting.
> > Maybe if we all do a
> > little of this, people will relax a bit. :-)
> >
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> >
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> >
> 
> =====
> Nixon in '08 - he's tanned rested and ready
> 
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-- 
Emlyn

http://emlynoregan.com   * blogs * music * software *



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