[extropy-chat] Making noise

[Robert Bradbury]

On 7/14/06, Anne-Marie Taylor <femmechakra at yahoo.ca> wrote:
>
> I've acknowledged that not many have responsed to my questions.
> I was curious to know why.
>

Stuart is correct.  Many on the list have been on it a long time and
recognize that responses may vary with personal interest, timing, other
things going on in their lives, etc.  I myself have had several questions
over the last few months go relatively unresponded to.  I don't take it
personally though it does cause some interesting facial expressions if I put
my attention in that area.

The Extro lists consist primarily of people who have been here a long time
(consider us mostly class of '95-'99) who have been to several shared
meetings (the various Extro & WTA conferences) with some lurkers who raise
their heads from time to time.   There is also a relatively large common
knowledge base in terms of the books or papers that have been read or that
we are generally aware of.

I know that for myself your questions have been quite refreshing in that
they cause me to think about the wide gaps that exist between the 'old
folks' (long time list members) and the rest of humanity.   It is relatively
rare for  someone new to come into the group.  Its like joining a craps
table [1] in Las Vegas casino where the same people have been playing off
and on for a decade or so.  Given the pace of the game it is hard for people
to stop and explain to newcomers what they need to know in order to avoid
losing their shirts.

There is an undercurrent which occurs in discussion threads from time to
time that involves that fact that many participants, particularly those who
have read work by Robin, Eliezer, Damien and others realize that there is a
"Great Filter" coming [2].  On our better days some will debate, on the list
or talking to themselves, what fraction will survive it and try to figure
out whether there are strategies that can be adopted that might make for
better odds.  This can distill down to simple allocation of time
considerations, e.g. "Does one try to explain complex bodies of knowledge to
novices or does one go write book chapters on how to implement lifespan
extension strategies?".  Everything is not possible... (yet).

Do I seem incomprehensible? Am I not understanding properly? Am I
> not forwarding my questions in the proper manner?
>

No, generally I think your questions are understood.  Unclear is how best to
wrestle with them.  Think of it as two children playing who are mixing paint
colors. One child has the hot colors.  The other child has the cool colors.
Sometimes if they mix their paint colors just the right way they end up with
a very pretty new color.  Other times they end up with yucky brown.  Mixing
your general meme set as I perceive it with the list general meme set as I
perceive it to get something pretty rather than something yucky could
perhaps be described as "challenging".

If i'm only making noise, then i'd prefer to stop.
>

It cannot be viewed as noise since 'colors' at your disposal are similar to
those that many others have [3].  Indeed the list's colors are so far off
the spectrum that most of humanity uses that they are effectively
invisible.  So do not view it as a pointless exercise.  One would hope that
over time both you and list members will develop better color mixing skills.

Robert

1. Some might suggest a poker table is a better analogy.
2. The simple way to view this is to ask "Who will manage to surf the
'singularity' and survive?".
3. Though I think the Anna and ExI list color sets are both quite different
from that that a significant majority (99.9+%) of humanity in both the
underdeveloped and developed worlds are working with.
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