[ExI] Social implicationsofwidespreadextropian/positivistideals.

spike spike66 at att.net
Thu Mar 11 03:16:28 UTC 2010


 

> ...On Behalf Of ddraig
> 
> On 11/03/2010, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > ...You're the one they 
> > can't beat and you know it.
> 
> ...(I'm one of those 
> poor souls that people who are miserable talk to to cheer 
> them up)...

Ja me too.  {8-]

>...Even if the world is going to hell in a 
> handbasket, you can either wring your hands and whine, take 
> drugs/watch TV/switch off and cover your eyes... 

Denial works too, because it is so plausible.  The world really isn't going
to hell in a handbasket.  The rich are getting richer, and the poor are
getting richer, even if not as quickly (ref. China).  Sure we have wars but
we don't really have anything analogous to the 20th century European wars,
and it is unlikely we will see anything like that again soon.  We have
starving people, but a lower percentage of humanity is hungry now than
before.  We have an ever increasing percentage of humans with sufficient
clean water, food and HVAC, so we are actually becoming a more comfortable
species.

Sure we have an entire basket case continent, but that one has always been
that way, and even that one has a few bright spots on it (Kenya is sorta
making progess in some areas).  If we as a species are so far down on our
list of needs that we have time to worry about theoretical global warming,
that to me is a sign of well being, very well being.

...
> Or someone from the extropians list will transcend and 
> consume the entire planet for raw materials...

Well, the term consume could be replaced with the term convert.  Given
sufficient heat and pressure, diamond could be made from manure.
Technically we would be consuming the manure, but I prefer to think of it as
converting it to another more valuable form.

> ...because there's lots of 
> people who want to do something, there's lots of money, but 
> very very few good ideas...

People throwing around (their own) money helps determine which ideas are
good and which are not.

> And it is ideas that drive absolutely everything else. You 
> can point at greed as a motivator but without an idea of what 
> to do, that greed is just jealousy, basically...

Sure but that makes it sound like a bad thing.  Check this:  "...for I the
LORD thy God am a jealous God..."(Exodus 20:5) and "...you shall worship no
other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God..." (Exodus
34:14) so the religioso would say that if greed is jealousy, then god is
greedy, so it must be a good thing.  Or something.  {8^D  Surprisingly, we
have never heard of Jealous' Witnesses.

Now I gotta tell this one story that happened Monday, then I can stop
laughing finally.  The doorbell rang, I looked out and saw it was Jehovah's
Witnesses, so I didn't answer.  My three year old wanted to know why, so I
told him I knew who it was and didn't want to talk to them.  Out the window
he saw them walking away.  About an hour later, I was out for a walk with
him, and around the corner comes the Witnesses, four of them, and he points
and shouts "There's the bad guys, and we don't want to talk to them!"  

{8^D

> 
...
> 
> Job interview in a couple of hours. Wish me luck!
> 
> Dwayne

Good for you pal, and good luck!

spike






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