[wta-talk] RE: [extropy-chat] What _is_ it with the WTA board,

[Dirk Bruere]

On 1/20/06, starman2100 at cableone.net <starman2100 at cableone.net> wrote:
>
> I wish I could easily sort out what has really gone on regarding the
> conflict
> between the WTA leadership.  But I will say people like Eliezer Yudkowsky,
> Bruce
> Klein and Harvey Newstrom who I have met in person seem to be of good
> character
> and intentions so the situation leaves me puzzled.
>
> I remember as a teen reading a SF short story about a very sparsely
> populated
> colony world of Earth's where the crotchety ramshackle pioneers can't
> stand each
> other and so from their homestead fortresses they lob "low-tech" weapons
> like
> nukes at the neighbors they don't like.  The climate and geography of this
> alien
> world had been so horribly scarred by the many petty battles over the
> decades
> that a scientist revisiting the place could barely recognize it.
>
> Sometimes I wonder should our dreams come true regarding
> super-technologies and
> the Singularity, if we will find ourselves on a terraformed world with a
> transhumanist banner atop it where we take our strife to the next level by
> manufacturing armies of nanotech drones to do battle against each other
> from our
> respective continents and sky cities.  Will we have a "supreme council"
> with
> folks like Max, Natasha and Spike to settle such disputes so no one gets
> seriously hurt?  Or will we turn real authority over to some God-like A.I.
> Sysop
> who will hopefully be beyond human pettiness?  I tend to think our
> lifespans and
> ability to control matter and energy will exponentially grow, but our
> primate
> politics games will remain.  I can imagine disenfranchised former WTA
> gov't
> leaders a century from now taking residence on planet Extropia as they
> continue
> arguing in the virtual world networks.
>
>
Only two PostHuman scenarios make sense IMO.
Either a Borg Collective/Hive Mind or totally self sufficient loners.
End of society as we know it either way.

Dirk
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