Re: Erik's Fallacy

Erik Moeller (flagg@oberberg-online.de)
Sun, 26 Apr 1998 00:23:37 +0200


>Ever time I have seen you try to attack free markets with any sort of logic
>or empirical evidence, that logic and evidence is flawlessy refuted by
>members of this list,(eg. John Clark, Lee Daniel Crocker, Anton Sherwood)
>who cite a larger body of contradictory evidence and well-thought-out logic
>which supports the benefits of a free market.

Every time I have attacked free markets with any sort of logic or empirical
evidence, I have only gotten opinion and personal experience as a response.
_Not a single time_, I have received statistics or quoted sources.

>You come along, telling everyone that playing or even
>thinking about playing without red goo is not only in error, but bordering
>on fascism.

Retranslated: I come along, tell everyone that being an Extropian or even
thinking about being an Extropian is not only in error, but bordering on
fascism.

Where have I done that?

>You drop a couple book names (maybe Noam Chomsky is a linguist
>and a baseball player?),

Noam Chomsky has written a very important analysis of the effects of media
on people. I consider him as one of the most important thinkers of today.

>and throw out a bunch of red-goo propaganda that has
>been heard by everyone on the list a million times over.

Namely?

>Your points are destroyed by evidence

Namely?

>You also accuse the creator
>of the Extropian No-Goo Baseball List of being a cult leader because he
>created a list that does not involve talking about red goo, and because
>*some* people on the list have opinions on red goo that contradict yours.

Retranslated:

I accuse the creator of the Extropian maling list of being a cult leader
because he created a list that does not involve criticizing Extropy, and
because some people on the list have opinions on Extropy that contradict
mine.

I have retracted from calling the creator of the Extropian mailing list a
cult leader.
I have not retracted from calling Extropy a cult, one of the reasons for
this was that criticism was not allowed on the Extropy mailing list. I am
still waiting for a reply by Max on this to find out the current status, but
right now, it looks good.

I have presented other reasons for calling Extropy a cult, and you say that
I am

>contorting the meaning of cult
>until it basically describes every philosophy ever postulated, including
>yours.

Don't you think that Webster's is a valid reference for defining a cult?
I don't care about what you think a cult is or should be, I care about what
it is defined to be, and by this general definition, Extropy is a cult.
Period. Maybe transhumanism is a cult, too, and the red-goo baseball players
are also cultish. Cults are part of culture.

Regards,
Erik Moeller