[extropy-chat] Bill Moyers' Comments - Global Environment CitizenAward

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Samantha Atkins <sjatkins at mac.com> wrote:
> And why is it that bright people on this list have
> mostly only harped 
> on points they disagree with or that play to their
> favored positions 
> while missing the urgency of the inmates having
> considerable influence 
> in the earth's only remaining superpower?  I would
> think there are more 
> important matters at hand.    Or is this sort of
> response just 
> diversion in the face of that which one feels
> powerless to change?

You may have nailed it with that last sentence.  What
can we do, to subvert the power of the theists?

One wonders if a "God through technology" meme might
fly.  That is, connect the belief that "God will
provide for His chosen" with the abundance that
technologically advanced areas - both nations, and
people within nations (as in those who embrace and
develop tech, as opposed to luddites) - tend to have.
Implication: accepting technology, and humanity's
power over nature, *is* accepting God's plan for His
creations (thus, even those who don't believe in God
can be seen as doing His work).  Further implication:
"Singularity" and "Rapture" are the same thing, as
viewed by different people with different takes on it
("Rapture" is a religious take; "Singularity" tries to
describe it in more scientific terms, but it's the
same event).  Might this convert some of the fundies
to our side?

Possible problem: one of the appeals of luddite
religions is that they excuse, even praise,
intellectual sloth.  Embracing new technologies
requires intellectual rigor.  If this causes excess
discomfort, this would cause people to reject the
meme, and possibly seek to actively counter it (say,
by becoming even more luddite and excusing it by
claiming that technology is anti-God).