----- Original Message -----
From: "Samantha Atkins" <samantha@objectent.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2001 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: Extro IT Techies list?
> Emlyn wrote:
> >
> > 1)
> >
> > There are a lot of good coders / IT people on this list. The best
evidence
> > is when someone asks a computer related question; the barrage of
responses
> > is quite overwhelming.
> >
> > I bet it's boring as batshit for those who don't earn a crust this way,
> > however.
> >
> > I've often wanted to ask tech questions on list, but hesitated because
> > that's not the list's purpose. I'm going out on a limb and assuming that
> > this is possibly not an uncommon experience.
> >
> > Should we (or someone) start an Extro IT self help list? So that all us
> > geekazoids can gather round, share knowledge, and beat each other over
the
> > head on fine points of technical dogma? It'd be fun, and probably damned
> > useful.
> >
>
> Well, I don't think so. Some of the tech stuff on here is what makes
> the list interesting and lively. I don't see anyone being offended by
> it in any case.
>
That's because we don't talk the talk all that much. Trust me, that can
really piss people off.
> > 2)
> >
> > The other thing this list is good at is answering science-related
questions.
> > As an idea for positive PR, has anyone considered starting a website for
> > answering technical/science related questions, possibly aimed at
younguns? A
> > lot of young people have questions to ask, and the people hereabouts
answer
> > such questions in not only informative, but fairly entertaining ways.
> >
> > Such a site could be an amalgam of website based forum & mailing list
> > (giving people the opportunity to access it in either style), and would
> > involve giving answers on a strictly voluntary basis (much as happens
here
> > already). Think of it as a service to the community, and an excellent
way to
> > increase exposure of extropian ideas which, after all, are supposed to
be
> > driven by facts and reasonable predictions. The most common experience
here
> > is that people come to >H ideas by processing the information available
to
> > them in their environment, and seek out Transhumanism or Extropianism
after
> > they are already converts. So, to spread the word, we would be best
served
> > in spreading information. And my bet is that the most likely demographic
to
> > adopt these ideas of an amazingly changed future are young people; those
> > without much attachment to the way things are.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
> >
>
> Why nail down the technical form of the list early? Such a list is a
> good idea but there are already broad efforts to do this type of thing.
> Is another needed? Does it necessarily have to do with Extropians? Is
> it a front for pulling people in? If so then it seem a bit less than
> honest. Now an extropian outreach to the young (or young of mind <g>)
> seems reasonable enough.
>
> - samantha
>
Well, it could be a (visibly) Exi-institute backed site. As to technical
form, that was just a suggestion.
As to whether another science q&a site/forum/list is needed, hell yes! Take
this bit from Greg Burch's criticism of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:
Once again, we see the considerable talents of the pop culture machine
invested in creating deceptive, seductive nonsense that divorces us from the
real past and the real world, when the real past and the real world offer
wonders aplenty.
This got me thinking... Greg was talking about the dumbing down of western
culture through uncritical use of supernatural influnces. The world is awash
in mumbo-jumbo. A couple of days ago, for instance, I discovered that most
of the parents I know in the local area, of kids who go to the same school
as my daughter, don't have their kids immunised. The reason? Lots of rubbish
about the body healing itself, putting disease into children is tantamount
to child abuse, all sorts of crap. The same people are heavily influences by
whatever faddish "alternative" nonsense is doing the rounds (nlp today, I
believe).
Talking about science is talking about verifiable stuff, as opposed to sheer
crap. Doing a bit more of that, in an accessible way, that would be a
worthwhile thing.
Emlyn
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