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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Darren Greer<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] kill thread<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>John wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>><span style='color:#1F497D'>></span>Spike, I think there is a need for a book titled "The Transhumanist's<br>Guide to Picking Up Women!" < <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>></span>Must I be a voice for gender and sexual orientation equality?<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The meat-world meetings of extropians and likeminded usual suspects has always had good representation of gay and transgender, as far as I can tell. I add this last because I am no expert in these areas. I haven’t really seen anything I would identify as homophobic there as far as I know, and we don’t allow homophobia here. That’s an area which is carefully monitored, more so than any particular political viewpoint phobia. Darren I am surprised if you don’t get some offlist empathetic commentary on gay.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>That being said, I'm happy to report that the response of Extropians has been laudable<span style='color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Good, then it is working. Jeez you guys and gals have suffered quite enough, rather far too much, for far too long. Gay and all its many variations of human sexuality are welcome here.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Last note: when I was twelve I read Clarke's SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH<span style='color:#1F497D'>…d<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Me too, the first time. I didn’t get what he meant by “feys” at the time. He had that one passage where a character was talking about feys and acting silly, which I thought was funny, but the passage seemed out of place and almost like a later insert that didn’t really fit with the story. I interpreted it as a kind of femmy acting comedian, not knowing what gay and straight was in those days. I didn’t find out that until age 23 (!) and even then only because there was a headline about AIDS. I went around at work (!) asking how a virus could tell if a person was a homosexual, since even people can’t do it consistently. Oy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I had an idea using Second Life and all its derivatives. Looks like we could set up a VR in which one could arrange to copulate virtually with the visuals and perhaps sounds supplied by the computer. That’s the easy part but this is where some good imaginative mechanical engineers come in: we work out mechanisms to interface with the genitals of either or all genders, then using something like the Wii, attach accelerometers to… what? The hips? Send the motion signals thru the wires so that a penile thrust in California can be felt in England for instance, and the resulting pleasing sound effects and motion reactions (whatever that might be) could be fed back. Alexander Bell would be delighted to learn what kinds of information most communication lines would eventually carry. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I am not that particular type of mechanical engineer, but I have been thinking about this for years, and the rocket science biz is way too slow these days. I bet I could do the necessary instrumentation part of that loop, the pressure transducers and so forth. Oh my, if we could work out a way to allow people separated by continents to virtually copulate, would not this help save the environment by obviating so many plane trips, and help economies by encouraging less wasteful and more satisfying activity? Most importantly of course we make a cubic buttload of money.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></body></html>