Hello everyone,

I am posting this email from Dr. J (with his consent) to the list.  I'm not saying I have sided with him but I do feel 
his perspective needs to be shared here.  I would hope that should Harvey decide to respond blow by blow it might shed 
even greater light on exactly what happened.  It's just hard for me to believe Dr. J has "gone over to the dark 
side."  And I also find it hard to swallow that a transhumanist organization such as the WTA which is helmed by none 
other than Nick Bostrom is under consideration of being "shunned."            

Quotes are from Harvey's Extrolist post (except for the last two which are mine), Dr. J responding:
>selling members e-mail to spammers to make money 

A lie - never happened. 

> adding people to the membership rolls without 
> their knowledge or permission, 

77 members of the Finnish Transhumanist Association which has voted that their members are also WTA members 

> The Oxford board meeting was one example where we were not 
> allowed to vote on whether to hold the international meeting or not. 

We voted, Harvey lost. 

> The conference on Transhumanism and Spirituality is another example 
> where the "leaders" went ahead despite board objections. 

It wasn't a Board decision - it was a conference committee decision, and Harvey could have moved to disavow the 
symposium and decided not to. 

> There also were complaints about inaccuracies and plagiarism in the "WTA FAQ" 
> which the board was not allowed to address. 

Harvey repeatedly tried to get us to disavow the Transhumanist FAQ because Natasha was annoyed it didn't in her view 
give enough credit to Max and herself. Then she put up her own "Transhumanist FAQ" which barely even mentions the WTA 
in passing. We repeatedly debated and voted down disavowing our Transhumanist FAQ. 

> They are now pushing for 
> a new Executive Director position who can run WTA independently of the 
> board with little or no oversight or control. 

I report to the Board and am accountable through them to the membership. 

> James wants to be 
> Executive Director just as he has been chairman, treasurer, secretary, 
> publications director, newsletter editor, and website master. 

As if I haven't begged for someone to take up some slack? I only took on the Treasurer role because no one else would. 

> The final straw was when James self-declared himself as Executive 
> Director and said he wanted to start taking a $60,000 salary. 

I was appointed by acclaim at the Oxford meeting, as affirmed in the unanimously approved minutes, and then 
reappointed by a vote of 5-3 two weeks ago. I draw no salary. We have discussed the fact that I would need to raise 
$60K for my salary as part of an overall five year $400,000 fund-raising plan. 

> They even abridged the official meeting minutes to add 
> this non-existent vote, and sent this out to the membership. 

The Board unanimously approved a version of the minutes, already published, which said I was nominated for the 
position and I met with general acclaim in Oxford. Then I presented an abridged version of the minutes to the Board 
for the newsletter, which were also unanimously approved, including by Harvey, which simply said I had 
been "appointed." Three weeks later the minority faction of Harvey, Jose and BJ decided they didn't mean to approve 
those minutes. Harvey and BJ weren't at the Oxford meeting of course. 

> When we 
> pointed to the public archives for historical evidence, the board voted 
> to shut down the public archives. 

Harvey made a motion to open all our Board list archive to the world, which we voted down. Instead we voted to open 
the Board list to our voting membership. 

> When we pointed to the wtaboard 
> private archives for evidence, the original motion and minutes were 
> deleted. 

I had attached the minutes in Word, and we later discovered that neither the BBS nor the Mailman archives were 
preserving attachments. However we immediately reposted the minutes in text. 

> When a small minority of three board members started 
> discussing this publicly, we were called liars and claimed their lies 
> were the truth. 

BJ went public first, arguing that I should be expelled from the WTA on the grounds that I am "political". 

Jose followed accusing me of worshipping Hitler because I am a socialist. 

And then Harvey started his public meltdown. 

I would say the overall effect has been disconcerting for observers, but the three of them have been so obviously 
nutty and self-contradictory that I haven't felt moved to much of a defense. 

> Our motions and seconds were ignored. 

They were all duly voted on defeated, when they were in order, which wasn't always. 

> There were 
> private discussions by the majority how to boot off the minority 
> without appearing to kick them out. 

Because Harvey was acting disruptive and frankly crazy. 

> Finally, I was told I was removed and had my 
> access to the wtaboard revoked. Later, they denied this ever happened 
> and made their motion that I had to resign or be removed. 

Harvey's yahoo account was bouncing and he interpreted it that we had expelled him. When we told him he wasn't 
expelled he went silent for two weeks, and all his email started bouncing. Then we finally started to take a vote that 
if Harvey didn't tell us if he had resigned or not, we would expell him. Which is when he claimed we expelled him 
again. 

> They say the "umbrella" status of the WTA is now dead. 

We're not an umbrella, and never were. We're a membership organization with affiliates. If ExI disaffiliates it would 
be a relief IMHO. I think the transhumanist movement is ready to move on. 
 
>I hope the WTA situation can be resolved 

Already has been with Harvey and BJ's resignation. Jose we can work with - chock his craziness up to the political 
pressure he's under at home and his Latin temprament. 

As for the ExIst machinations, I really couldn't care less.We haven't been pals since about...1994. 

Feel free to share all this with whoever. 

Thanks for asking. 

J. 
(end)







