[extropy-chat] (POLITICS) Utility of Protest was :Exhibitionism (no, not THAT kind)

[The Avantguardian]

--- Natasha Vita-More <natasha at natasha.cc> wrote:

> How about taking this off list?  I'm scratching my
> head because I don't see 
> a relationship to Extropy or transhumanism and don't
> see how this thread 
> ties into any level of proactive discussion.
> 
> Anyone agree?

My apologies, Natasha, if you don't see the relevance
of this topic to transhumanism. I tried to phrase my
question as a general question of whether there is any
political value to protesting, other than the simple
catharsis of publicly voicing ones discontent.

As it seems that a major obstacle to the realization
of the goals and aspirations of ExI and transhumanism
in general are the inherently restrictive policies
issued by the U.S. government in regards to many
promising technologies. As such, it is IMHO, important
that transhumanists figure out what actions can and
cannot influence government policy.

Historically protests HAVE been successful in this
regard, however recently they seem to be much less
effective. Brett thinks this because politicans have
learned to use opinion polls and demographics, to
precisely quantify and maximize the public discontent
they can get away with and still retain their power
base. Mike on the other hand seems to think it mostly
has to do with money.

If we extropes and transhumanists want to actually
implement our ideas, learning what methods CAN sway
public policy would be an important first step.
Judging from the answers I recieved to my question, it
would seem a safe bet that public protests against the
ban on therapeutic cloning for example, would NOT be
the way to go. Unless perhaps such an endeavor had a
fairly large bankroll and was targeted to the swing
states for example. If by asking the simple question I
did, I prevent myself and fellow transhumanists from
wasting their time walking around with pro-cloning
placards chanting slogans, then the exercise was worth
it.

The same technologies that politicans use to stifle
our freedoms can and should be used to reclaim it. In
order to do so however, we have to put as much effort
into figuring out how to use the technology to our
benefit as the politicians have into using it to our
detriment.



The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson

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