[ExI] Breaking Protocol: A Critique of The Extropian E-mail List

[BillK]

On 7/24/10, darren shawn greer  wrote:
>
> Begin Quote: "Some of the guys on my discussion list are frighteningly intelligent,
> with broad ranges on knowledge on every subject you can name. I know I said I was
> pretty disgusted with the list, and there is some puerile stuff posted there at times.
> But I think I am also intimidated. Here are men and women thinking about the same
> things I am, and have been doing so for about ten years longer. Their scientific
> knowledge is greater by far -- many of them are scientists or science fiction writers
> or software designers. They can figure our mathematically how may terajoules can
> be extracted from a kilogram of Thorium, while I have a hard time with basic algebra.
>
>


Always remember that very intelligent people can also hold views that
are completely wrong. The intricate pyramid of logic sometimes leads
to the 'wrong' answer. Usually because of something outside the box
that collapses the whole pyramid.

This list has been going for many years and there are some unspoken
assumptions that have been argued through and nobody mentions anymore.
There are also perennial dead horses that are dragged out for a
flogging every year.  :)

Maths is important for validating what is theoretically possible. But
social factors have also got to be included as these affect what is
possible to be built in our society.


> Still, I've decided to stay connected with the list, if only to learn.
>


Hopefully, we are all here to learn.  ;)


>
>  These guys are forcing me to think, and challenging my ideas, promoting a
> Hegelian dialogue which made me uncomfortable at first. It's true for this writer,
> and probably for others, that we are not used to immediate criticism.
>
>


I would have thought that Socratic dialogue was more typical of the list.
"Socrates typically argues by cross-examining his interlocutor's
claims and premises in order to draw out a contradiction or
inconsistency among them."

Hegelian (Kantian) dialectic on the other hand,
"a thesis, giving rise to its reaction, an antithesis, which
contradicts or negates the thesis, and the tension between the two
being resolved by means of a synthesis."
is rare on the list.  I don't remember offhand a discussion that ended
up with the supporters taking the best bits out of each and creating a
compromise.  Engineers do that sort of thing when brainstorming, but
this list is more like two fortresses firing cannonballs at each
other.  :)



BillK