[extropy-chat] POLL: Principles of Extropy

[Jef Allbright]

Hal Finney wrote,

regarding the Principles of Extropy at 
<http://www.extropy.org/principles.htm>

>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.
>
>  
>

Here's my ordering of the list:

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

I went through the exercise and compared with Hal's ordering, and was not surprised to find that my list is in the same order as his -- except for one item.  Hal's last item is my first.

This seems to indicate we have high congruence of belief in the value of rationality and the subsequent ordering of items of personal and social progress.  The difference between my list and Hal's is that I first identify myself as The Practical Optimist, and then see the rest of the categories as goals and milestones along my chosen path.

I find great strength in the underlying belief that it doesn't matter where I find myself or what happens "to me" because in any case, being (1) a practical optimist, I apply (2) rationality to my decision-making process, valuing my own (3) self-direction within (4) an open society of similar entities, using (5)increasingly intelligent technology for (6) self-transformation within a framework of (7) perpetual progress. 

- Jef
http://www.jefallbright.net