As you can see from my new .signature, I have now installed BeOS on my machine. I am also typing this message on a Dvorak keyboard. In the last election, I voted Libertarian where possible. I'm a Singularitarian, and thus by extension a transhumanist, a science-fiction fan, and a novelty-seeker. Coincidence? I think not. For some people, There Is A Better Way.
Let us consider: Is someone running MacOS or Linux or BeOS, even though 95% of the planet uses Windows, more likely to use the Dvorak keyboard, even though 95% of the planet uses QWERTY? Is someone who votes Libertarian more likely to be a transhumanist? I have no hard statistics on the subject, but I suspect that there is considerable overlap between the groups.
I'd like to list the following items for a Better Way Award. The Better Way Awards are given to Ways (1) that inspire fanatic devotion in their users and (2) that only a minority use - and, of course, are vastly Better than the alternatives.
Vastly Better Way Awards:
BeOS: There Is A Better Operating System. Linux/OpenSource: There Is A Better Development Strategy. Dvorak: There Is A Better Keyboard. Libertarianism: There Is A Better Political Party. Design Patterns: There Is A Better Design Method. Science Fiction: There Is A Better Literature. Singularity/>H: There Is A Better Goal. Cryonics: There Is A Better Survival Strategy. Nanotechnology: There Is A Better Material World.
Better Way Awards (category 1):
XML: There Is A Better Data Format. PGP/RSA: There Is A Better Cryptographic Cipher.Godel Escher Bach: There Is A Better Book. Software Reuse: There Is A Better Development Strategy. Object-Orientation:There Is A Better Programming Paradigm.
Better Way Awards (category 2):
arXiv/cogprints: There Is A Better Scientific Paper Repository. OnSale's atCost: There Is A Better (and Vastly Cheaper) Seller. Evolution. Psych: There Is A Better Psychology.
Credit Unions: There Is A Better Bank. IBM Solutions: There Is A Better Software Search Engine.Good Drug Guide: There Is A Better Neurology. Collaborative Filtering: T.I.A.B. Way of Finding Things.
Rutan's Rotor: There Is A Better Spaceship. Australia: There Is A Better Country. (Planning to move someday...) Ask Jeeves: There Is A Better Search-Engine Interface.
Slightly Better Way Awards:
USA: There Is A Better Country. Python: There Is A Better Programming Language. Java: There Is A Better Programming Language. Scheme: There Is A Better Programming Language. Eiffel: There Is A Better Programming Language. User Friendly: There Is A Better Comic Strip. Extropians: There Was A Better Mailing List (pre-1998 only).
What are *your* Better Ways?
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sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/tmol-faq/meaningoflife.html
Running on BeOS Typing in Dvorak Programming with Patterns
Voting for Libertarians Heading for Singularity There Is A Better Way