[ExI] Left Behind

[Eschatoon Magic]

Please do!

On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net> wrote:
>> Giulio wrote:
> I could go on about the more encompassing extropian view (as I see it)
> and also the argument against an essential identity, but I've probably
> lost or irritated too many already.  [And I have work to do.]

Indeed, I think that these natural and enthusiastic yearnings for
escape may drive practical striving toward a better tomorrow. And no,
I don't think they take attention away from the challenges and hard
work of the here and now. I have seen enough people dying of cancer,
confined to a life support system, destroyed by age, or just
profoundly unhappy to conclude that life, as it is, sucks. If not for
these natural and enthusiastic yearnings for escape, I would not
consider life as worth living, let alone find the interest and drive
to strive toward a better tomorrow.

> In short:
> The sentiment you express of escaping the meat is easy to
> understand--too easy, in the manner of science fiction stories and the
> pandering promises of religions.  You might respond that these natural
> and enthusiastic yearnings for escape may drive practical striving
> toward a better tomorrow, but if so, where's the evidence within the
> transhumanist community, and don't it even more effectively take
> attention away from the challenges and hard work of the here and now?
>
> - Jef