[extropy-chat] Extropy and libertarianism

[nvitamore at austin.rr.com]

Eli wrote:

>Maybe I'm wrong, and it really is the case that ExI never was a 
>libertarian organization. But personally, I'd like to see ExI come out 
>and say: "We used to be a libertarian organization. That was a mistake 
>and we admit it. From now on we're going to be a transhumanism 
>organization that is not explicitly tied to any political viewpoint 

You are mixing apples and oranges.  ExI was always a transhumanist
organization, thus "Extropy: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought" way back
in the early 90s.  Since Max defined transhumanism before it grew into the
culture it is today, the philosophy of Extropy has always been
transhumanist and a philosophy of transhumanism.

>except where it infringes on transhumanist issues, although our 
>philosophy of self-reliance and distaste for coercion is highly 
>compatible with libertarianism as philosophy."  So far as I'm concerned, 
>that would settle everything, and anyone who wanted to accuse the modern 
>ExI of libertarianism would have to produce modern evidence."

The second part of this paragraph is more apt and applies nicely.  We tried
this years ago, but there are die-hards that insist that things cannot
change and that if you once said something or did something that it is
written in stone and can never change.  It seems that there were many
discussions about progressive ideas, but then there was that political
essay that Hughes wrote which ignored the communications.  The point is
that if someone wants to position you they will not accept any explanation,
no matter how articulately and honorably stated, and will refuse to provide
the requested evidence.

But, as I said previously, I am not interested in this type of antagonism.

What we need to do is to establish what we are now and what we want to
become.  

Natasha






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