Cogently said, Robert. Yet, where are the science/philosophy papers to light
this candle? Example: how common is it for a scientists or other thinkers
like a Moravec or a Tipler to publish something, for want of a better word,
"dramatic" or dynamic? Very few and very far between is the apparent answer.
I would say and will say, that there has to be a critical mass for this
particular philosophy to takeoff. Moreover, there has to be a qualitative
impetus for this movement to sustain itself and succeed.
-Mitch
In a message dated 4/17/00 1:01:03 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
bradbury@genebee.msu.su writes:
<< On Mon, 17 Apr 2000 Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
> I had asked:
>
> <<Where oh where did the other folks go?>>
> Ah! The most fervently ignored area of interest under Extropian concerns
or
> TransHuman concerns. Most peeps here on the list seem to be convinced
that
> they will live for 10,000 years; if not forever. To me its the analog of
a
> trapeze acrobat working without a net; courageous but an extra hazard! So
> when will those who are qualified, academically, to publish papers come up
> with some plausible solutions for this 'situation'? Or are we leaving it
up
> to Herr God?
> I like working without a net (in Russia), it keeps you sharp. Its
>like the mental cringe our rocket engineers do every time they
>push the lauch button on those big inverted roman candles.
> Speaking from experience, the costs of not getting your timing
>right can be quite expensive. Actually there seems to be quite
> a lot of list related activity for people working in their various
> ways at moving things forward. Robin, Anders, Eliezer and a host of
>others are publishing papers on the directions in which we are going
>and proposing various means for speeding things up. Many of us who
>aren't "doing", are thinking about how and when "to do". When we do
>do, you won't see us "doing", because like Sasha or Eugene we will be
>too busy to talk about it.
> I think what you see is a selection effect.
>It is worth noting that when you grasp the big picture, the efforts
> of single individuals are *almost* meaningless. The trick is to discover
> the leverage points where a single individual may exert a small force
> and cause a large mass to move(*). Then in the future, we will look back
> at those points and say "I stood there", realizing that that advanced
> the pace of discovery by maybe a week, or a month, or if you are
>very very lucky a couple of years.
> Robert
(*) Buckminster Fuller, I believe, used supertanker rudder "trim-tabs" as
the analogy for this. Trim-tabs are at the end of a rudder and turn in
a direction opposite to the motion of the rudder itself allowing water
to flow around the rudder, thereby allowing the rudder to be turned
more quickly with less force. >>
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