[extropy-chat] [Pigdog]Fwd:ExtropianTrash(fwdfromthespian at doitnow.com)

[Brett Paatsch]

Adrian Tymes write:

> --- Brett Paatsch <bpaatsch at bigpond.net.au> wrote:

> > Perhaps folk like Kass, Fukutyama and an assortment
> > of 
> > professional opinionists are actually in a symbiotic
> > relationship with
> > transhumanists. Sort of like the media is in a
> > symbiotic relationship
> > with politicians. 
> 
> I'd say the opioninists are more like parasites than
> symbiots.  Politicians provide fodder to the media,
> who in turn provide exposure to the politicians.  What
> unquestionably good/useful thing do opinionists
> provide to us?  We already get exposure just by
> ourselves. 

I think the amount of publicity is greater because of the
opinionists and the sort of criticism that is levelled when
it is just ranty can cause people who feel targetted to 
bind together and when there is substance in it it can
cause reflection and refinement of ideas. 

The question what is an extropian is not really clear cut.

Is it someone who agrees with the Extropian Principles
(some of these can be in tension with each other), is it
someone who says they are, or is it someone who likes
the company of people who post to the list? Are there
in effect some core beliefs as distinct from values even
if these are not formally prescribed? What are the core
values, are they changeing? If it is easy to parody extropians
as cultists - why would that be? Have things that used to
seem neither clearly provable or falsifiable become clearer
with the advancement of science such that it is no longer
open mindedness but ignorance to continue to suspend
disbelief - These questions and others are I think are questions
worth considering from time to time.  

A lot of folk that post to this list have stated on list that
they are not extropians (including Natasha ! ) yet those
who read a list are likely to be assumed to be extropians
by association.  

One can like extropians without agreeing with much of what
some of them write on a chat list.  I like extropians. Yet I 
would not call myself an extropian. Whether I would correct
someone who clearly assumed that I was would depend in
part on how uncomfortable I felt about being associated with
what their view of an extropian was. 

> Contrast this to how things would be if
> we weren't there: they would have to find something
> else to write irate articles about.

Yep. 

Brett