[extropy-chat] learning to appreciate pessimists

[The Avantguardian]

--- c c <beb_cc at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I am confused when you write, "as it should". This
> is the dispute in a nutshell. They think they should
> be able to leave a 'reasonably natural' future to
> their descendents. 

This is a fault of theirs due to their narrow vision
and unreasoning fear. That they choose to think of
technology as "unnatural" speaks volumes. As a
biologist by profession and a naturalist at heart, I
don't see the relevant difference between a motorhome
and the shell of a hermit crab. Is there truly any
meaningful difference between a machine gun and a
tiger's claws or the venom of a spitting cobra? The
very Tao of life is to reconfigure the atoms of the
universe for survival advantage. That the reformed
atoms are incorporated into venom to be secreted by a
creature's body or into the robot another creature has
built in his garage is irrelevant, most especially to
those atoms themselves.
      All the destruction done to nature that is
decried by neo-luddites is not the result of
technology that is unnatural, it is instead the result
of a worldview in which humanity is somehow special
and separate from the nature in which we are imbedded.
That they adhere to this view, yet condemn the
physical manifestations of such artifical conceptual
boundaries is ludicrous. Yes machines can pollute the
environment and kill the fish, but they could also
terraform the whole earth in a tropical paradise. All
that matters is the purpose they are designed to do
fufill.
      That they somehow think that nature is this
precious delicate thing that requires their pathetic
stewardship is very disrespectful of the power and
majesty of nature. This is not to say that there is no
value to preservation of biodiversity but such should
be recognized and acknowledged for what it is:
humanocentricism masquerading as charity. What it
should be is a manifestation of mankind's
understanding that he is mutually interdependent on
the ecosystem in which he lives. If the neo-luddite
had had the misfortune of being born a milkweed plant,
his precious endangered monarch's offspring would
relish feasting upon him without mercy.
      The luddite's every argument is merely the
rationalization of the vague fear he feels in the pit
of his stomach. The fear of change. The fear that
technology will shatter his illusions of autonomy and
security. That he will somehow have to change his
lifestyle in order to survive. I have no pity for the
man foolish enough to want to earn a living by racing
NASCAR on foot.
   
   

The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson


		
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