[ExI] kill thread

Tue Dec 28 19:08:05 UTC 2010

John wrote:

>Spike, I think there is a need for a book titled "The Transhumanist's
Guide to Picking Up Women!" <

Must I be a voice for gender and sexual orientation equality? Either it be
The Transhumanist's Guide for Picking Up" with a section for men, one for
women and one with same-sex advice in that area. Or three separate books.
Tracts or pamphlets might do actually. Though in fact, regarding the last
one, I don't know one other gay transhumanist, though there must be others.
I know a few philosophical Post-humanists who are homosexual, but that
movement is a bit different. Technology plays a role, but it is more about
redefining consciousness and identify outside the renaissance-inspired
humanist and pre-renaissance religious paradigms.

Sexuality is for me a very big issue in a transhumanist context. When I
joined this group I was uncertain how my sexual orientation would play out
if I proclaimed it (which I invariably do, for I sometimes lay in wait for
unsuspecting homophobes who have never really read or understood Leviticus.)
Nor is intelligence a guard against homophobia, as I've discovered the hard
way. Same with atheism or agnosticism: homophobic sentiment is not always
brought about religious and moral intolerance. It sometimes, I suspect,
comes, as an EP might put it, from some old evolutionary programming. Some
very bright, non-superstitious and otherwise very progressive thinking
straight men sometimes have difficulty stomaching it, for whatever reason.
It may be that they have an evolutionary aversion to it in favor of
propagation and genetic dominance--a kind of emotional alpha male knee-jerk
reaction to the whole business. I'm not sure. A friend of mine believes it
is because some visual thinkers may not be able to hear the words without
picturing themselves in the act and viscerally responding to it, which may
be the same thing.

That being said, I'm happy to report that the response of Extropians has
been laudable. It is as it should be -- not even an issue or ever discussed,
unless I bring it up. If you do decide to write the tracts or books, I
reserve the right to draft the gay section. ;)

Last note: when I was twelve I read Clarke's SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH. Besides
being one of my favorite SF novels (Silverberg's FACE OF THE WATERS and
Robert Charles Wilson's SPIN being the others) individuals in the human
colonies on that planet in Clarke's future were neither 100% homosexual or
heterosexual. They may have strong tendencies one way or the other, and
never act on their recessive tendencies, but, according to Clarke in his
wonderful book with the sapient lobsters, to be 100% either way was
pathological. I love the man for making that bold statement and influencing
me so positively when I was young and struggling heavily with that issue.
What I like most about it is that sexual orientation demagogues of either
stripe -- militantly gay or straight -- find it deeply offensive. Which
means it must have the stamp of truth. :)

d.

On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 2:35 AM, John Grigg <possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Spike, I think there is a need for a book titled "The Transhumanist's
> Guide to Picking Up Women!"  And I believe Keith "Archimedes" Henson
> and Eugen "Big Pimpin" Leitl should be among the contributors...
>
> John  ; )
>
> On 12/27/10, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Behalf Of Ben Zaiboc
> > Subject: Re: [ExI] kill thread
> >
> > "spike" <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>> OK thanks everyone, please stop forthwith any commentary titled Getting
> > Laid...
> >
> >>> It is OK to post stuff about dating and lonely hearts to some extent,
> but
> > I urge you do use judgment and decorum...
> >
> >>> Play ball!
> >
> >>Fair enough, you're the boss...
> >
> > Oy vey.  Only temporarily, as Max and Natasha are in the process of
> moving
> > to Arizona.  I take up this badge with much reluctance and with eagerness
> to
> > relinquish authority at every opportunity.
> >
> >>Although I do hope this is killed because of the vitriol, not because of
> > the actual topic (or my choice of subject line!)...
> >
> > It's quite all right Ben.  The reason we had to kill it this time is that
> > unpleasantness had broken out with inappropriate commentary as you likely
> > noticed.  Posting about sex is perfectly OK.  There is so much potential
> for
> > humor in that area.  Caution is to be exercised if we see novices
> offering
> > to lecture experts in their own area of expertise.
> >
> >>My take on it is that it's a valid extropian topic, as it's about our
> > happiness and ambitions, just as much as life-extension or intelligence
> > expansion is, just not as 'sexy' (cognitive dissonance intended), and
> even
> > more so because it relates to the kind of personalities that often
> frequent
> > this kind of list.. Ben Zaiboc
> >
> > Ja, all areas of sexuality are to be explored openly on ExI and all are
> > accepted, up to and including those which are physically impossible to
> > perform.  This last category is especially welcome, for those of us less
> > capable in these areas have a ready excuse for failing to participate.
>  Not
> > only accepted, but... noichaed.  Never appropriate are insults to those
> who
> > practice any particular brand of sexuality.  Insults are never
> appropriate
> > actually, for any category of practitioners.  We like everyone, ja?
> >
> > Besides that, the stuff that is physically impossible may not always be
> so.
> > Picture Seven of Nine in the holodeck.  Then recognize that to have *any
> > chance* at the holodeck with 7 you must make arrangements ahead of time.
> >
> > spike
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > extropy-chat mailing list
> > extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> > http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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-- 
*"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."
*
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