Re: Is "Extropian Greed" an oxymoron?

Robert Schrader (rms@cts.com)
Mon, 31 Mar 1997 12:15:42 -0800 (PST)

On Mon, 31 Mar 1997, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
>
> I dropped off the Extropians mailing lists many years ago largely
> because I realized that I was spending lots of time talking about how
> good it is to be a greedy rich bastard, and spending very little time
> actually becoming one. Long before that, I noted that many -- not by
> any means all, but many -- extropian types spent lots of their time
> talking a much better game than they played.

Being a capitalist does not neccesarily mean that one favors being a
greedy bastard. It means that one favors an economic/political system
in which being a greedy bastard is /profitable/.

Capitalism is an ideal system for many of us who do have more
important things to do in life than become rich. It ( ideally ) allows
us to spend the minimum ammount of time money-grubbing and the
maximum doing more important things like like making love or dropping
acid.

> Anyway, in summary, I believe "anonymous" is probably extreme in
> lumping all extropians in to the same category together -- many are
> not the "altruists preaching selfishness" that "anonymous"
> decries. However, I will point out that a disturbingly large number of
> "Extropians" are, in fact, "altruists preaching selfishness", and that
> it is indeed somewhat disturbing that comparitively many do not
> practice what they preach.

Selfishness is not measured in dollars.

Robert Schrader rms@cts.com