[ExI] Let's Canonize Samantha (Was Re: Other thoughts on transhumanism and religion)

[Brent Allsop]

Extropians,

I think this post by Samantha should be Canonized.  I, for one, having 
had a very similar experience, would definitely "support" a topic 
containing it, and I have counted at least 10 posts full of strong 
praise.  Since there aren't that many topics in the Canonizer yet, if 9 
people supported this topic it wold make it to the top of the most 
supported list at http://test.canonizer.com

How many others would be willing to "support" such a topic in the 
Canonizer if it was submitted?

Samantha, would you mind if I posted this post in some other forums 
(Such as the Mormon Transhumanist Association, WTA...) to find out if 
there is similar support and praise on other lists?

Brent Allsop




Samantha Atkins wrote:
> I remember in 1988 or so when I first read Engines of Creation.  I read 
> it with tears streaming down my face.  Though I was an avowed atheist 
> and at that time had no spiritual practice at all, I found it profoundly 
> spiritually moving.  For the first time in my life I believed that all 
> the highest hopes and dreams of humanity could become real, could be 
> made flesh.   I saw that it was possible, on this earth, that the end of 
> death from aging and disease, the end of physical want, the advent of 
> tremendous abundance could all come to pass in my own lifetime.  I saw 
> that great abundance, knowledge, peace and good will could come to this 
> world.  I cried because it was a message of such pure hope from so 
> unexpected an angle that it got past all my defenses.  I looked at the 
> cover many times to see if it was marked "New Age" or "Fiction" or 
> anything but Science and Non-Fiction.  Never has any book so blown my 
> mind and blasted open the doors of my heart.
>
> Should we be afraid to give a message of great hope to humanity?  Should 
> we be afraid that we will be taken to be just more pie in the sky 
> glad-hand dreamers?   Should we not dare to say that the science and the 
> technology combined with a bit (well perhaps more than a bit) of a shift 
> of consciousness could make all the best dreams of all the religions and 
> all the generations a reality?   Will we not have failed to grasp this 
> great opportunity if we do not say it and dare to think it and to live 
> it?   Shall we be so afraid of being considered "like a religion" that 
> we do not offer any real hope to speak of and are oh so careful in all 
> we do and say and dismissive of more unrestrained and open dreamers?    
> Or will we embrace them, embrace our own deepest longings and admit our 
> kinship with those religious as with all the longing of all the 
> generations that came before us.  Will we turn our backs on them or even 
> disdain their dreams - we who are in a position to begin at long last to 
> make most of those dreams real?   How can we help but be a bit giddy 
> with excitement?   How can we say no to such an utterly amazing 
> mind-blowing opportunity?
>
> - samantha
>
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