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<DIV><SPAN class=737265919-19102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Welcome Brandon. I was at SOE but left before you started, still in
Austin though. I think you'll find the group here an interesting and
(mostly) pleasant bunch :)</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Brandon
Reinhart<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 19, 2005 1:26 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
'ExI chat list'<BR><B>Subject:</B> [extropy-chat]
Pretranshumanist<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I figure I would make a post to
introduce myself. I don’t know if that is standard behavior on this list, but
since its standard behavior in most social groups I’ll fire
away.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">My name is Brandon Reinhart. I am
27 years old, I live in </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Austin</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">,
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Texas</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> and I
design and engineer massively multiplayer computer games and world
simulations. I am currently employed by a startup company working on a new
project, but prior to that I worked at Sony Online
Entertainment.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I am a secular humanist and
critical atheist. I consider myself to be “pre-transhumanist.” The values,
ethics, and goals of transhumanism reflect my own views, but I do not consider
myself a master of the material or its component arguments. I’m learning and
I’m making use of the resources provided by many members of this list to do
so. In my early life I was exposed to viral fundamentalist Christianity and as
a result I’ve developed a cautious mental immune system. (Reference USENET
archives with my name for a few posts I made while infected.) I’m working
through several documents and arguments a night, spending time thinking about
the points of view and how it relates to my own understanding of technology
and the direction of human progress.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I held several transhumanist
beliefs before I became aware of the term, such as a belief that death is the
result of preventable halting states. I have never been satisfied with the
agenda of either American political party and so I am in the process of
building my own complete socio-political philosophical view.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I had no idea what extropy was
until I read “Iron Sunrise” by Charles Stross -- a book I bought because I
liked the title. I didn’t realize people had a name for technology heavy views
like mine. Researching extropy led me to research humanism, transhumanism,
etc. It helped give me a vocabulary I could use to identify my values and
further develop them. Tools I can use to get inside my own head. Kick
ass!</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I am hesitant to accept the
historical exponential view of evolution. This is one of the things sitting in
my meme filter awaiting development. The predictions of a technological
singularity that might occur within my lifetime is not something I currently
accept, because I cannot accept it without further research and thought.
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I have a blog at <A
href="http://www.extropica.com/">www.extropica.com</A> that I worked on
briefly earlier this year and have picked up again. At the moment it doesn’t
have a goal or focus. It is largely regurgitation of concepts I’ve read,
because writing an idea helps me contemplate and understand the idea.
Eventually, I would like that page to become a more directed sounding board
for my views (as I become more able to articulate them).</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I’m playing around with building a
personal concept map in Visio:</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
href="http://www.extropica.com/images/transcend/concept_map_v1.jpg">http://www.extropica.com/images/transcend/concept_map_v1.jpg</A></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Non-Normative
UML</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Core beliefs are represented by
classes. Belief values are represented as class members.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Dashed arrows indicate
correlations of the type “reasonably leads to.” In other words “rationalism
reasonably leads to humanism.” “Humanism reasonably leads to altruism.” The
atheism arrow is backwards. “Reasonably leads to” relationships aren’t
qualifications for a given belief, but are more like a road map of how my own
development works. Humanism, for example, creates the context and logic for me
to be altruistic. That isn’t to say that altruism depends on humanism.
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I need to do a lot more work on
this, but this is kind of how I think. I like to make graphs of concepts and
write out or visualize my ideas to try and internalize them. Now if only I
could get an integrated agent to help me do that!</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Brandon
Reinhart</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>