[ExI] Moderation on the ExiCh list

[Damien Broderick]

On 12/5/2009 12:00 PM, Lee Corbin wrote:

> Why does it just kill you
> to hear someone say something totally outrageous once in a while??

There might be a clue in that word "outrageous" and more exactly the 
"rage" part, since outrage can enrage, and bringing rage down upon one's 
head is not a great idea. Yes, the difficulty is that some people are 
all too easily enraged and eager to lose control, so arguably they are 
the ones who need (self)moderation. But to rehearse the obvious, this 
list is not a public square, yet anything posted here can be read by 
anyone on the planet now or in the future. Since the list owners and 
most other transhumanists don't wish to be associated with outrageous 
proposals to (say) nuke or poison all the Muslims in the world or even 
in a given country, or to forcibly banish blacks and other "non-white" 
people "back to their own countries", it is very reasonable to step in 
and remove or block posts making such suggestions--even as thought 
experiments. If only on the same grounds that one is well advised not to 
make bomb jokes while boarding a plane.

Damien Broderick