[extropy-chat] POLL: Principles of Extropy

[Hal Finney]

We have a lot of political posts here, which in my opinion are useless
and off topic. There are any number of places on the net to debate
traditional politics: liberal vs conservative, left wing vs right,
moderate vs extreme. If we have to debate politics, we should try to
tie the issues back to something specific to this mailing list.

Along these lines I thought it might be useful to have a little refresher
on what we are about. Extropianism has gone through considerable
change in the past few years. The very words have changed: extropianism
and extropians are out; extropy and transhumanism are in. We used to
communicate via the extropians list; it is now extropy-chat. What used
to be called the Extropian Principles are now the Principles of Extropy.
I'm not sure what word to use any more to address subscribers to this
list.

However much has stayed the same, and the new Principles of Extropy look
pretty familiar, from <http://www.extropy.org/principles.htm> (where longer
discussions of each one are available too):

: The Principles of Extropy in Brief
:
: Perpetual Progress
:
: Extropy means seeking more intelligence, wisdom, and effectiveness,
: an open-ended lifespan, and the removal of political, cultural,
: biological, and psychological limits to continuing development.
: Perpetually overcoming constraints on our progress and possibilities
: as individuals, as organizations, and as a species. Growing in healthy
: directions without bound.
:
: Self-Transformation
:
: Extropy means affirming continual ethical, intellectual, and
: physical self-improvement, through critical and creative thinking,
: perpetual learning, personal responsibility, proactivity, and
: experimentation. Using technology - in the widest sense to seek
: physiological and neurological augmentation along with emotional and
: psychological refinement.
:
: Practical Optimism
:
: Extropy means fueling action with positive expectations - individuals
: and organizations being tirelessly proactive. Adopting a rational,
: action-based optimism or "proaction", in place of both blind faith and
: stagnant pessimism.
:
: Intelligent Technology
:
: Extropy means designing and managing technologies not as ends in
: themselves but as effective means for improving life. Applying science
: and technology creatively and courageously to transcend "natural"
: but harmful, confining qualities derived from our biological heritage,
: culture, and environment.
:
: Open Society
:
: Extropy means supporting social orders that foster freedom of
: communication, freedom of action, experimentation, innovation,
: questioning, and learning. Opposing authoritarian social control and
: unnecessary hierarchy and favoring the rule of law and decentralization
: of power and responsibility. Preferring bargaining over battling,
: exchange over extortion, and communication over compulsion. Openness
: to improvement rather than a static utopia. Extropia ("ever-receding
: stretch goals for society") over utopia ("no place").
:
: Self-Direction
:
: Extropy means valuing independent thinking, individual freedom, personal
: responsibility, self-direction, self-respect, and a parallel respect
: for others.
:
: Rational Thinking
:
: Extropy means favoring reason over blind faith and questioning over
: dogma. It means understanding, experimenting, learning, challenging,
: and innovating rather than clinging to beliefs.


In order to get people to think about these principles a bit, I
thought it might be fun to take a poll.  Try to rank the 7 Principles
of Extropy in order of how much you agree with them and how important
you think they are.  Those that are, or could be, an important part of
your personal philosophy you would rank high.  Others that you agree
with but seem like rather obvious platitudes could be ranked lower.
Any that you think are questionable or harmful would come last.

To get the ball rolling I will put them in order for me:

1. Rational Thinking
2. Self-Direction
3. Open Society
4. Intelligent Technology
5. Self Transformation
6. Perpetual Progress
7. Practical Optimism

For a brief discussion, rational thinking is very important to me as a
basic method for dealing with life.  Self direction and open society
are consistent with my individualistic political philosophy.  I am
always interested in new technologies and their possible future uses.
Self transformation and perpetual progress are more long term goals as
we develop new technologies.  Likewise practical optimism is a useful
guideline but doesn't come into play much on a day to day basis.

If enough people are interested we could try combining our results into
an overall ranking of the Principles.

Hal