[ExI] a lack of vision

[ben]

"Bryan Bishop" <kanzure at gmail.com> wrote:

 > On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 8:37 PM, John Grigg wrote:

 > > I belong to the "SciFi_Discussion" yahoo group and I was floored by
 > > the naysaying comments of a fellow poster.  Perhaps more
 > > transhumanists should look into this group.

 > You're on the wrong list.

 > http://www.orionsarm.com/
 > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orions_arm/

That's great, but i'd argue that he's not on the wrong list.

The right list to be on is not just the list where everyone thinks like 
us.  Wherever anyone says things like "Technology, ... will not solve 
all that ails us.  For that matter, /it is probably best that it 
doesn't/.", THAT's a list we need to be on. Defeatist, luddite and 
dystopian memes need to be challenged, not left to fester.

It doesn't matter if you 'lose an argument' against a particular poster 
(let's face it, nobody wins an argument), what matters is that you stand 
a chance of getting others (often silent lurkers) to think about these 
issues.

Maybe I'm an optimist, but i reckon that as long as you get people to 
actually think about these things, they usually end up agreeing that 
more life, health, intelligence, capability, etc., is better than less. 
  But people need to be prodded into thinking about it.  Ignoring the 
luddites invites them to spread their propaganda, and get people to 
react without thinking.

Ben Zaiboc