[extropy-chat] POLL: Principles of Extropy

[natashavita at earthlink.net]

Hal writes:

>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.

Agreed.  

>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.

Good points.  After much press and public mention from a variety of domains
and with a variety of inferences - both positive and negative - ExI's Board
discussed and decided to focus on the "philosophy of extropy."  This was
done to promote the networking and educational efforts of Extropy Institute
rather than a "club" mentality. Further, extropians are not out, but what
occurred was an action to establish presence, if you will, over a growing
futurist movement which became occupied with competitive forces which
neglected to reference Extropy Institute and its members as being the
original home of transhumanity. (Reference:  "Extropy: The Journal of
Transhumanist Thought" dating back several decades)  I think most of this
is known, as it has been discussed frequently, but in a nutshell opposers
to the philosophy of Extropy took the word "transhumanism and
transhumanist" (Reference:  "Philosophies of life, such as extropy, that
seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life
beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science
and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values."  More) and
created their own group based on the ideas of its original proponents.
Extropy Institute saw this as a violation and took a stand. In doing so, it
has made it known that it is the original transhumanist organization and
the catalyst of the transhumanist movement (Reference: Extro 1 Conference
Silicon Valley 1994).

With that said, let me add my views on marketing and going mainstream:

The public gets confused quite easily.  If you toss out too many words, it
will most likely use them incorrectly.  The world "extropy" is a strong and
solid word and has a positive, progress-oriented, and implies critical
thinking via its definition. Watering it down with "isms" and "ians" caused
journalist to groupthink in a less than futurist fashion about the ideas
continued in the term extropy.  Our idea is to use "extropy" as a
stand-alone - something that I believe, in deference to all who support the
philosophy, it has earned the value of.

I hope this explains a few things for better understanding.

>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):

Excellent!

Thanks for such a creative idea,

Natasha

: 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
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