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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>My name is Brandon Reinhart. I am 27 years old, I live in </span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Austin</span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>, </span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Texas</span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I’m playing around with building a personal concept
map in Visio:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;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:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Non-Normative UML</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Core beliefs are represented by classes. Belief values are represented
as class members.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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 size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Brandon Reinhart</span></font></p>
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