[extropy-chat] POLL: Principles of Extropy

[Adrian Tymes]

1. Practical Optimism
2. Rational Thinking

Without RT, it's hard to get most of the others,
although RT itself can be derailed if not guided by
PO.  (One can rationally think about how to destroy
the human race if one thinks it needs destroying, for
example.  But a practical optimist will see that this
would not, in fact, help.)

3. Perpetual Progress

A logical goal, if one accepts PO and RT.  We want
things to get better?  Then let us make them better -
and then better yet.  We might not be able to skip
directly to perfection (partly since nothing is
perfect for all the conditions we may experience), but
we can certainly aim to improve on the status quo.

4. Self-Direction

This is important in part to counterbalance that last
example: whose definition of "perfect" are we aiming
for?  But it is not above PP: one should be free to
define progress for oneself, but for example, an
ecoluddite might define "progress" as the elimination
of humanity's footprint from the Earth by any means
available - clearly not a sustainable vision, short of
a complete genocide of the human race or the complete
and permanent evacuation of Earth by the same.

5. Self Transformation
6. Intelligent Technology
7. Open Society

These are means to the above ends.  Effective,
perhaps, but not the same as end goals in and of
themselves.  ST is essential to make sure that all can
participate in the manner they prefer.  IT is a great
aid towards progress, but if not achieved in and of
itself, it is a likely outcome of 1-5.  OS is kind of
symbiotic with the others: it helps achieve them, but
the others (especially IT) tend towards creating it if
it does not already exist.

BTW, note that the only goal - the self-justifying
element - is number 3 on the list, and everything
else justifies itself from there.  (1 and 2 because
they lead to 3; 4-7 support 3 once accepted.)