Randy Smith wrote:
> How long will it be before they (Time et al.) come a-knocking on the
> Extropian/transhumanist door, and this time without a smirk?
> When they do, don't forget assisted suicide as a plank in the Extropian
> "platform." This idea is already seen favorably by over 50% or thereabouts
> of the US public. It's a natural.
This was the point of my "Message" exactly. Does membership in this group
commit me to the support of what some fraction of current Extropians happen
to espouse? I see no relevance in the mention of public opinion. Suppose
95% of the American people favored the national legalization of euthanasia,
assisted or otherwise, and further suppose that 51% of the Extropian
membership was of the same persuasion. So what? If I happen to feel
strongly opposed to it, do you honestly feel I hold this view on statistical
grounds, so that I will be dissuaded by the force of mere numbers?
When I joined this group, there was no understanding that I was appointing
it my proxy or my public ideological representative, authorized to speak for
me on social and political issues.
Finally, shouldn't that be "Transhumanist/Extropian?
Robert M. Owen
Director
The Orion Institute
57 W. Morgan Street
Brevard, NC 28712-3659 USA
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