[extropy-chat] Books: Harris; Religion and Reason

[Jef Allbright]

On 1/10/06, Harvey Newstrom <mail at harveynewstrom.com> wrote:
>
> On Jan 10, 2006, at 6:32 PM, Samantha Atkins wrote:
>
> >  I wouldn't want to see a board member advocating nuking Iran, for
> > instance
>
> This is exactly what Robert Bradbury proposes.  He has repeatedly
> proposed using nuclear weapons on muslim countries as an "extropic"
> solution to terrorism.  See the following repeated threads on this
> forum:
>

Harvey -

Some of Robert's statements can really push people's buttons, but
consider that this is the guy who repeatedly argues for saving *all*
information, especially the more complex forms, as in living humans,
as being intrinsically good.  He even argues for preserving society's
worst offender's, in a deactivated state, rather than executing them.

When Robert has proposed destroying some portion of that which he very
publicly and very obviously values, he was trying to promote
intelligent debate about a certain class of decision-making that is
very difficult for many people to even consider, let alone decide.

Sometimes a military leader is faced with the difficult choice of
sacrificing some of his troops in order to save the rest.  Sometimes
an individual will sacrifice himself to allow others to survive in an
overloaded lifeboat.  Sometimes a surgeon will advise a patient to
undergo radical amputation in order to have a chance at life. 
Sometimes a politician will risk loss of popularity in order to
contribute to a greater good.

And too often people recoil in moral repugnance for lack of seeing the
bigger picture.

- Jef