[ExI] san jose tech museum's take on the singularity

[spike]

> ...On Behalf Of John Grigg
> Subject: Re: [ExI] san jose tech museum's take on the singularity
> ...
> >...But family is here and now, and gone far too soon... spike
> >>>
> 
> Spike, this is so true.
> 
> We should run Mormon Church-style television ads that show a 
> happy family as a honey-voiced narrator says...
> "To learn more about the Singularity, please go to 
> www.singularityforabetterlife.com"  "A message from your 
> friends, the transhumanists." John  : )

John this has occurred to me, but this whole approach is a double-edged
sword, and I am reluctant to even explore it.  Look at what we have seen
happen in the world of religion.  We had seen a "religion" develop in modern
times which does not involve (as far as I can tell) a deity, but rather is a
remarkably robust business.  Yet an honest man, one of our own, was
imprisoned for the crime of interfering with it.  Interfering with a
religion!  Who even knew that was illegal?  Who even knew what the hell it
is?

We have seen an apparently non-stoned US supreme court justice soberly and
sincerely question whether it is first amendment free speech to burn a
particular religion's favorite book:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20016378-503544.html

We have seen a religion become considered almost as a race, so that
criticism of it has become the practical equivalent to racism.  How did that
happen?

So the temptation is to get one's philosophy redefined as a religion, even
if it really isn't one.  I recognize the temptation, but my ethical
intuition tells me this is wrong.

spike