<DIV id=RTEContent> <DIV id=RTEContent><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Dear friends,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I am writing to let you know that I am withdrawing my candidacy for the WTA Board. Regardless all my time and dedication, I have seen things in the WTA getting worse instead of getting better. The
double standards, unethical practices, financial mismanagement, political recrimination, lack of transparency, immoral behavior and blatantly open lies of some of its leaders have been enough for me. Please, I urge to go over the WTA Board files that are open to paying members, and see for yourself.</SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The drop that finally tilted the glass is the double morality exposed by some directors in order not to expulse Mr. D… Medvedev, who has defended Stalin because of “his overall contribution is
overwhelmingly positive” regardless of “a significant number of people were executed and a large number starved in a drought”. Some WTA Board members want to keep him because “he is The webmaster of the Russian Transhumanist Movement” and “he is an excellent translator of technical, transhumanist ideas between his <SPAN style="COLOR: black">Native language and English”. This shows a total lack of respect for human lives, freedom and human values, not only from </SPAN>Mr. D… <SPAN style="COLOR: black">Medvedev but from some of the current WTA Board members, whose view is simply not compatible with humanism, and even les with the transhumanist ideas that I believe we have to strive for.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"> </SPAN>I wish that was all.
However, after telling many consecutive lies, James Hughes has been deleting my messages to the lists, and not just my messages, without giving any notice. In his typical Stalinist fashion, James Hughes has lied about how and why he censored the messages, but that is nothing new about his behavior of the people he dislikes. Nonetheless, Mr. D… Medvedev and his support of Stalin is just moderated and not expelled, unlike other people before who supported the Nazis, for example. Well, the news is that Mr. D… Medvedev now also told us about a strategy for the Nazis and how the WTA should create </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">"a vision of racially pure superhumans” to attact them as well.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt
458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>James Hughes has been abusing his power constantly, including when he self nominated and appointed himself Executive Director in the WTA Board meeting in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oxford</st1:place></st1:City> in 2004. He cleverly wrote to sets of minutes after the meeting, the original where he was not elected Executive Director, and a later one where he was supposedly appointed unanimously. However, there was never such an election, and even less an unanimous decision, since I certainly did not vote, and even less for him. Nonetheless, James Hughes is a clever writer of minutes, and so he wrote later what he wanted, even against
reality and other people’s objections.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Financially, James Hughes oversaw losing $ <st1:metricconverter w:st="on" ProductID="7,000 in">7,000 in</st1:metricconverter> the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region> meeting, even though he always said it was a small quantity, but even now the figure is not really known. First he said, it was “only” $ 3,000, then it grew to $ 5,000 and later he said it should be around $ 7,000. From 2004 to today, however, we don’t even have the final number. Harvey
Newstrom, then a WTA Director, said that the financial management of the WTA was basically so sloppy that it might not pass any auditing process. That is why James Hughes has been constantly refusing the audit that I have proposed, even a free audit with no cost to the WTA. That sounds unbelievable, but true. And in 2005, James Hughes transferred close to $ 5,000 sponsor money to <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> instead of buying tickets for the supposedly African participants to TV05. Yes, James Hughes is responsible for losing at least $ 12,000 from its members and sponsors. Maybe that is why he has been constantly delaying the audit, but members should ask why to give money to the WTA to end like this.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE:
10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>James Hughes also adores to love his enemies, and he has many. He never published any of my extensive writings in the IEET webpage when I was a fellow, and then he threw me out because I am an “underdeveloped right-winger”, as he told me in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Madrid</st1:place></st1:State> last year. He has called Joseph Bloch a “recalcitrant neocon”, he does “hate that bitch” of Natasha Vita-More and many other comments about people who do not agree with him. Apparently he sees the world in black and white, either you are with him or against him. That is curious for a socialist who also hates Bush very deeply. One interesting description of James Hughes wrong ideas, without considering all his personal hatred, was clearly pointed out by Ronald Baily in Reason, so please take another look: <A
href="http://www.reason.com/rb/rb051105.shtml">www.reason.com/rb/rb051105.shtml</A>. But you should really read the book to get the flavor of how much he hates the Extropy Institute, Max More and so many other transhumanists who don’t agree with him.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Because of all the problems that James Hughes has had with so many people, we in the WTA Board gave him a one year trial period to see how he behaved. If you see the results, it has been a real disaster: more hatred, more problems, more bad talk. James Hughes has brought divisions to our little community
instead of union and harmony. Maybe that is why he unilaterally declared last year that the WTA was not an umbrella organization of the transhumanist movement. Not only it is not an umbrella now, but it is driven by socialist ideas in a Stalinist manner. Anyone who disagrees with him will suffer hell, or just ask Harvey Newstrom, Eliezer Yudkowsky or Bruce Klein, or so many others before them. And so many others after me, because James Hughes will continue, it is in his nature: like the scorpion who will hurt anyone including himself. These problems did not start with me, and they will certainly continue as long as the unethical self-appointed and un-ratified Executive Director stays there. The reality is that James Hughes is becoming more of a liability than an asset to the WTA.</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I hope that you do not simply take my words for any of this, please, verify directly the WTA Board files, or contact me directly. It is very sad, but true. Nonetheless, I can gladly say that I will keep working on transhumanist ideas, because I believe in them, regardless of some rotten apples in the WTA Board. We transhumanists are so few, and we have to work together as opposed to be driven by totalitarian individuals, with political agendas, unethical behavior and double standards.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 2.2pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Transhumanistically yours,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm -51.8pt 0pt
0cm"></SPAN> </div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm -51.8pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> La vie est belle!</SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm -51.8pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> Jose</SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm -51.8pt 0pt 0cm"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"></SPAN><BR><B><I>Joseph Bloch <transhumanist@goldenfuture.net></I></B> wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> <div>mike99 wrote:<BR><BR>>Joseph,<BR>>You missed the point of my message.<BR>> <BR>><BR><BR>Not at all. I grasped the point of your message perfectly. I simply <BR>disagreed with it.<BR><BR><BR>>Now
Joseph, do you know of anyone from, let's say, the far-right who offers<BR>>the same combination of useful skills as Danila?<BR>> <BR>><BR><BR>You yourself said that DNAGod2000 (much as I might loathe and despise <BR>him and his message), aka Marcus Eugenicus, aka Marc Harris leads a <BR>"quasi-transhumanist cult". That strikes me as an effort that requires a <BR>certain combination of useful skills. He has a very well-developed <BR>website, and I daresay his organizational skills are exceptional. (I <BR>would say the same about den Otter, although he is somewhat less <BR>offensive and cultivates an air of respectability, inasmuch as he <BR>doesn't seem to promote the anti-Semetic rhetoric that Marc Harris <BR>does.) If he can found an organization, attract people to him, and get <BR>stuff done, all the while droning on about how Hitler was right, I fail <BR>to see how he is any worse than Danila, who drones on about how Stalin <BR>was a good man, and whose skill set is
somewhat less.<BR><BR>Are you saying we should attempt to cultivate Marc Harris as a member, <BR>hoping he grows out of his virulent neo-Nazism, because he has evinced <BR>some success in his endeavors?<BR><BR>Of course not. He and his message are just as offensive as Danila and <BR>his message, and the fact that both of them could be seen as being <BR>marginally useful in no way makes up for the taint that an association <BR>with them would bring to the WTA as an organization.<BR><BR>Joseph</div> <div> </div> <div> <TABLE class=messageheader cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=label noWrap>Date:</TD> <TD>Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:36:34 -0500</TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=label noWrap>From:</TD> <TD>"Joseph Bloch" <transhumanist@goldenfuture.net> <A
href="http://address.mail.yahoo.com/yab?.rand=4278&v=SA&A=t&em=transhumanist%40goldenfuture.net&.done=http%3a%2f%2fus.f328.mail.yahoo.com%2fym%2fShowLetter%3fMsgId%3d3241%5f62951697%5f645339%5f3880%5f2100%5f0%5f487890%5f4162%5f3425563153%26Idx%3d10%26YY%3d10987%26inc%3d25%26order%3ddown%26sort%3ddate%26pos%3d0%26view%3da%26head%3db%26box%3dWTAboard"><IMG height=16 alt="View Contact Details " hspace=2 src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/pim/el/abook_rdex_1.gif" width=16 align=top border=0><FONT color=#003399>View Contact Details </FONT></A> <A onclick='document.getElementById("mobile").style.display="block"' href="http://us.f328.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=3241_62951697_645339_3880_2100_0_487890_4162_3425563153&Idx=10&YY=10987&inc=25&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=WTAboard#"><IMG height=12 hspace=2 src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/nt/ic/ut/bsc/txtmess12_1.gif" width=12 align=top
border=0><FONT color=#003399>Add Mobile Alert </FONT></A></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=label noWrap>To:</TD> <TD>"World Transhumanist Association Discussion List" <wta-talk@transhumanism.org>, "WTA Board of Directors List" <wtaboard@transhumanism.org></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=label noWrap>Subject:</TD> <TD>[wtaboard] Re: [wta-talk] IMMEDIATE EXPULSION OF DANILA</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <FORM name=frmAddAddrs action=http://address.mail.yahoo.com/yab/us?v=YM&.rand=16215&A=m&simp=1 method=post><INPUT type=hidden value=Joseph name=fn> <INPUT type=hidden value=Bloch name=ln> <INPUT type=hidden value=transhumanist@goldenfuture.net name=e> <INPUT type=hidden value=http://us.f328.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=3241_62951697_645339_3880_2100_0_487890_4162_3425563153&order=down&inc=&sort=date&view=a&head=b&box=WTAboard&YY=9080 name=.done> </FORM></div> <DIV id=message><!-- type = text --><PRE><TT>Hughes, James J. wrote:
>>Unfortunately, because the leftist political leanings of >>James Hughes and Nick Bostrom, it just took longer to condemn >>the communist and socialist murderers. >> >> > >I understand that the Bolivarian Revolution has placed you under a great >deal of stress, but I really must take exception to this absurd >accusation. Nick can speak for myself, but your repeated suggestion that >I have not moved to expel Danila because I am a "leftist" or a >"Communist sympathizer" is baseless and quite ludicrous. > I do not presume to speak for Jose, but I will point out that the fact that a double standard exists within the WTA is neither baseless nor ludicous. It is also self-evident that you (as a result of your self-admitted political leanings) are largely responsible for that double standard. You are, by your own admission, a Socialist (of the "Democratic" stripe, but a Socialist nonetheless; I
confess I find the notion that the proletariat has voted to redistribute my property not so much worse than the oligarchs have decided to do so, but I digress). You have, to date, dealt harshly and with dispatch when racist or racialist elements have attempted to insinuate themselves within the WTA (and rightly so). And yet, you have dealt relatively lightly with our resident USSR apologist. You claim that it is not because you are a leftist or a Communist sympathizer, but you have yet to provide an alternative explanation for your foot-dragging. Can you honestly claim that Marc Harris (aka DNAGod2000) or Dalibor van den Otter would have gotten so many chances? Of course not, yet our resident USSR apologist has been spewing his bile for months and months, picking up exactly where he left off once his moderation was lifted (and the explanation for why that was done, when there was a motion before the Board to terminate his rights to post at all, is
still awaited). The simple fact is you don't seem to see Communism (because it is so closely associated with the Socialism you profess) as offensive as racism, and thus you don't treat it as harshly. It is precisely that double-standard, wherein the excesses of the Left get a pass while the excesses of the Right are excoriated, which has no place in a supposedly "apolitical" organization. You do the WTA a disservice by indulging your personal political preferences. One has to look no farther than the recent vote amongst the WTA board to condemn totalitarianism. When I suggested that we should pass a statement that would "formulate a broad, yet effective, policy against totalitarianism and authoritarianism, regardless if it comes from Left or Right", your response was to formulate a statement that endorsed State control of the economy. And then to proceed to compare me to Joseph McCarthy for daring to point that out. Eventually the version
offered by Dr. Bostrom made no mention of left or right was adopted, but the fact remains that we have explicitly condemned right-wing extremism (twice!) but never left-wing extremism. Other examples are rife. You claim you are not biased in favor of the Left. I say the evidence says otherwise. You harbor an immense double-standard, which is reflected in every aspect of your oversight of the WTA, and which makes a mockery of its claim to be an organization without a political agenda. You once said to me that the WTA should be whatever you say it should be because you do all the work. If that's really your view (though I have every confidence you'll promptly deny ever having said it), then I would urge you to come out and do it. I, despite what you might think, won't stop you. I'll leave quietly. But what I will not abide quietly is this farce that the WTA is somehow apolitical, and balanced, when it is in fact ultra-left and pursuing the
personal political agenda of its Executive Director. Please, either go all the way or stop imposing the double-standard on the WTA. Joseph Bloch, Director</TT></PRE></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></DIV>