[extropy-chat] The Bible Belt Paradox

[Benjamin Goertzel]

Hi,

> >but once you arrive at the WoMD scale, I think
> >there'd be fewer godbotherers among the nuclearti and weapons-grade hackers.
>
> Given the recent reports about Justice Dept. and Pentagon prayer groups and the fact that internal promotion in these departments is tied with one's attendence and religious philosophy, I'm not so sure.


I know a bunch of nuclear scientists at Los Alamos Labs ... these guys
are definitely "weapons hackers" ... and their culture and mentality
is definitely that of secular-humanist physics nerds....  Yes, they
believe that the US should remain the world power because the
alternatives are even worse, and that having the best nukes is
critical for maintaining world power status.  But they are really not
very Strangelovian, nor Bush-ian, or whatever.  They are definitely
rationalists, and at least one has some Singularitarian insight....
And BTW many of them are pissed at Bush for stem cells and Iraq, and
for not caring more about stopping nuclear proliferation outside the
US...

OTOH, I have encountered some Strangelovian characters in the DC
military establishment (including a guy I thought for months was named
"Colonel Hardcock", but it turned out just to be an oddly pronounced
"Colonel Hartcox" or some such...).  But the DC military world is
rather disconnected from the day-to-day of the Los Alamos nukular
scientists...


-- Ben G