<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Jul 9, 2005, at 3:32 PM, Mike Lorrey wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">--- Samantha Atkins <<A href="mailto:sjatkins@mac.com">sjatkins@mac.com</A>> wrote:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV> <BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If I were to express my abhorrence in a similar way then I would wish</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">that you and those who agree with you would be at ground zero if such</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">a thing was done.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>But since I understand what you apparently miss I<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">would not wish that on you.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>What you are missing is that all "those.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">people" are all potential immortals.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>Exactly why do they deserve to<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">miss eternity for some real or imagined stupidities of their<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">(relatively) *very* early childhood? <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV> <BR></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">It appears here, Samantha, that you now contradict your reaction to</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Robert Bradbury a while back when he expressed similar sentiments about</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">the deaths of millions due to ignorance and superstition.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>No. His "solution" denied what he was attempting to further. </DIV><DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Of course they could miss eternity because of their own mistakes. Maybe</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">they should, that is the point of evolution: to weed out the unfit.<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>We are not talking of evolution but of what we propose to do. </DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> How</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">does the transhumanist movement expect the Singularity to be an</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">evolutionary step upward if we bootstrap every idiot and moron? <BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Idiots and morons have the potential to grow beyond their idiocy. I trust you have noticed some growth in yourself over time.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>We are every one an "idiot and moron" compared to what we seek to become. I don't see where some of the idiots and morons are capable of summarily saying that some other idiots and morons deserve no chance. I am not a total pacifist but I believe death should only be dealt when there is no other way and that we should be very conscious of what we are doing in light of our own dreams and goals.</DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I have</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">no problem with an entrance exam to posthumanity.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>Administered by the likes of you or I? I have a huge problem with that. </DIV><DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000DD">- samantha</FONT><BR></BODY></HTML>