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Hi Damian U,<br>
<br>
I completely agree with your first step idea. But I think it needs to
be more of a concise survey of what all transhumanists, want, value,
and believe. In short, we need to measure, rigorously and
quantitatively for what is the scientific consensus (and I bet there
would be a big overlap between scientific consensus and transhumanist
consensus) That is precisely why we are working on the wiki survey
system at canonizer.com.<br>
<br>
Right now, there are not enough expert 'scientists' that know what they
are talking about to be heard above all the primitive crazy noise from
the general population. It's a lot of stupid talking to stupid. I
think the solution is to have a rigorous way to find out who the
experts are, and also who the transhumanists are (see: <a
href="http://canonizer.com/topic.asp/53">http://canonizer.com/topic.asp/53</a>
) and to rigorously / quantitatively measure for scientific consensus.
That way the general population will finally learn who to trust, and
finally enable them to no longer trust all the primitive fear mongering
religious leaders and crackpots just pandering to what the still
primitive general population thinks they want to hear and fanning their
fears. (And transhumanists, themselves, suffer from a bit of this not
knowing what the real experts know...)<br>
<br>
It also may be a bit too late for the current generation, but at least
we will be able to provide a good moral source of expert opinion to the
next generation, instead of all the primitive popular fear mongering
stupid moral advice the currently generation grew up with.<br>
<br>
For example, here is what I think is a good start:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://canonizer.com/topic.asp/50">http://canonizer.com/topic.asp/50</a><br>
<br>
Other than it still being far from a comprehensive survey, are there
any important issues not represented there yet?<br>
<br>
I also think we need to survey for what the experts think are the most
important scientific research is to do next, which are being done in
topics like this:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://canonizer.com/topic.asp/90">http://canonizer.com/topic.asp/90</a><br>
<br>
Brent Allsop<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 6/27/2010 4:43 PM, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:udend05@aol.com">udend05@aol.com</a> wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:8CCE4613ACDDF66-16B0-13E6E@webmail-m066.sysops.aol.com"
type="cite"><font color="black" face="arial" size="2">
<div
style="font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt; color: black;">
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_9e78fcc2-7d27-4574-9563-c9f92bf326c8"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2">
<div
style="font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt; color: black;">
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Leaving aside issues of a more
personal nature taking place on the list at the moment, what is to
happen to this 'delicate egg' of transhumanism? How can it be portrayed
in a healthy and sustainable way so that it is not only brought into
the general arena, but also in a way that is acceptable to the
mainstream? What political steps must be taken? Accepting that it is
essential for there to be some kind of consensus in transhumanist
thinking, how can that be reached? What is blocking it? Is there too
much debate over particular technologies, leading to a clouding of the
central issue of the desirability of using technology to improve our
lot? Is enough attention being paid to push scientific progress at the
legislative level?</font>
</font>
</div>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
</font></font></div>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">My own belief is that the first
step must be towards creating a consistent body of academic work to
form the foundation for a movement that is consistent on the inside.
Debate over specific technologies and their desirability/feasibility
must take a back seat to this overarching goal. But who is to take on
this work? And how are others' to bring themselves in line with it
without compromising their own beliefs?</font></font></div>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
</font></font></div>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Food for thought.</font></font></div>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
</font></font></div>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Best,</font></font></div>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18"><font
color="black" face="arial" size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Damian U.</font></font></div>
<!-- end of AOLMsgPart_2_d6156282-e45e-4bb6-be1e-f8c6765e3e18 --></div>
</font>
</div>
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</font>
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