[ExI] the formerly rich and their larvae...

[Tom Tobin]

On 2/11/08, Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com> wrote:
> Has anybody written an essay exploring the connections between the open
> source community and the extropian philosophy? There are too many
> parallels to be a coincidence, and yet, socially, there are not too
> many connections as far as I can tell. What's going on?

This intrigues me, as I fall squarely into the intersection of the
"open source programmer" and "transhumanist" categories.  I'd
tentatively suggest that both memeplexes attach to the same underlying
personality type, but a difference in interests/skills (in the case of
whether one takes up programming) and philosophy (in the case of
adopting a transhumanist outlook) cause less overlap than there might
be otherwise.  In other words, it's very easy to imagine
transhumanists with no real desire to program, and likewise open
source programmers with no inclination towards transhumanism.

(The latter may sound odd at first glance with the stereotypical geek
fascination for science fiction, but I consider it quite a jump from
thinking, e.g., "cybernetic implants / medical immortality /
personality rewriting are cool" to "I *really*, *seriously*, in *real
life*, want cybernetic implants / to live forever / to rewire my
mind".)