[ExI] [Extropolis] Religion

[efc at disroot.org]

On Sun, 11 Aug 2024, Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat wrote:

> 
> On 11/08/2024 03:17, efc at disroot.org wrote:
> 
> My most recent success was bouncing against Russian IT attacks arguing 
> that security needs to be solved in a decentralized fashion, by also 
> educating the population.
> 
> 
> 
> I actually received a reply from the CEO of a medium sized IT-security 
> consulting company who said (publucly) that my article was rubbish, and 
> that the problem would be solved by trusting our brightest and the best in 
> the form of our elected politicians and CEOs and business leaders.
> 
> 
> Yes, we all know, I'm sure, that there is a certain type of person for whom an educated public is their worst nightmare.
> It's not just the Putins, Xis, Kims, Khameinis, Orbans, Erdogans, Melonis, etc., either. There are many many people whose motto is
> "Shut up and do as I say". Unfortunately, they do tend to occupy positions of power to various degrees.
> 
> Understanding the basis for this tendency, and creating an antidote for it (or at least a defence against it), may be one of the most
> important challenges facing the human race. By continuing to allow it to flourish, we may be sealing our own fate.
> 
> Ben
>

I was actually quite flattered that he felt threatened enough by my
newspaper article to actually bother to reply, but needless to say, I
did not want to give him more visibility so even though the newspaper
asked me to reply to his post, I choose not to, since his reply was of
such an extremely low quality that I think it was more powerful to just
let it stand as it was.

But, I agree whole heartedly with what you say. I detest such people,
and they can do a lot of harm.

But when it comes to an anti-dote I don't know what it could be. It
seems like the majority of the population is genetically engineered to
not question or criticize ideas and commands. Or is it a cultural thing?
I would love to see every single person question and criticize commands
and ideas, and I think we all would benefit immensely if that came to
be.

The "easy" answer for me, has always been education and leading by
example, but it is far from easy and looking at the current school
system, it feels as if I would have the entire government and the system
against me. ;)

I am actually thinking about starting an entirely private vocational
school of very small size, and having a philosophy degree, I would
certainly sneak some good, old fashiond ethics inside the curriculum if
the idea will make it from the idea stadium to actually being
implemented in real life.