[extropy-chat] Futures Past

The Avantguardian avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com
Mon Oct 10 18:12:33 UTC 2005



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

> The Avantguardian wrote:
> 
> > So before you chide yourself because your crystal
> > balls were murky and dark, and the things you have
> > foretold have not yet come to pass, be thankful
> that
> > your predictions have been more acurate to date
> than
> > that of the chiliasts.
> 
> Er, the chiliasts? 

Yeah. You know... the guys that are always looking to
skies for the second coming, trying to figure out when
the world is going to end based on some prophecy or
another. The simple ones think that world is going to
end on some nice round numbered year with a lot of
zeroes in it while the more sophisticated ones perform
arcane calculations based on scripture and the hebrew
calendar. 
 
> >  And know this: it is only
> > because of your labors that humanity even knows in
> > what direction progress lay. Without the compass
> of
> > your imaginations, the impetus of your
> inspiration,
> > and the clarity of your vision, we would still be
> > wandering aimlessly in search of our next meal
> > somewhere at the base of the foreboding mountain
> > called progress.
> 
> Holy mixed metaphors batman! 

Not now, robin. I am trying to convince the futurists
that the value of the inspiration they bring to
technological endeavor far surpasses the value of
their predictions, accurate or otherwise. ;)
 

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

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying." - Woody Allen

"Our hope of immortality does not come from any religions, but nearly all religions come from that hope" - Robert G. Ingersoll


		
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