An Extropian Manifesto
by Michael Lorrey
Given the Extropian Principles, and that there now exists in the media,
government, politics, and public demonstration and acts of sabotage
that are opposed to and seek the end of the liberty of the individual
to follow the Extropian Principles, we find that the time has come
for the supporters of Extropy everywhere to stand up and be counted in
their demands for the new century. Namely:
Government is Obsolete: Centralized founts of authority, controlled
by individuals who corrupt, and are corrupted by the centralization
of power, are anathema to the principles of Self Improvement and
Spontaneous Order. Perpetuation of government bureaucracies, the
confiscation of private property, the imposition of force upon
individuals to prevent them from engaging in victimless activities,
restraints upon individual use of technology, and the protection and
subsidy of priviledged corporate entities which dominate their
markets with the support and aid of government agents and regulations
all restrain the liberty of the individual and the advancement of the
human spirit, body, and mind from reaching new levels of
civilization, expression, and intellect.
Taxation is Slavery: The involuntary confiscation of the property and
productive output of the individual, to the point that currently half
of an individuals output is now claimed by the government is slavery.
Part time slavery under the heel of government is no less morally
repugnant than full time slavery under the heel of other individuals.
We refuse to be enslaved any longer.
Civil Confiscation is Pillagry: The confiscation of the entirety of
one's private property, home, means of transportation, self protection,
or production by government agencies establishes modern government
as no different from a feudal lord, where the serf has no inherent
rights and the lord has all. We no longer recognize the authority
of government to claim its sovereignty over our property and
productivity.
Technology wants to be Free: The consistent trend toward greater
advancements in technology indicates that opposition to its
advancement is not progressive, but reactive and conservative. That
advancement in technology consistently improve the ability of the
individual to live with an increasingly smaller impact upon the
environment demonstrates that technology is green. That advancements
in technology also consistently improve the ability of the individual
to contribute and make their voices heard in the community and society
at large demonstrates that technology wants freedom for all of us.
Applying fascistic controls on the right of the individual to use,
produce, buy and sell any technology for the betterment of emself and
es fellow human are to be opposed by any means necessary.
Private Stewardship is Superior to Public Management: History has
consistently shown that private landowners manage the environment on
their land in a superior manner to that of government controlled
land. The 2/3 of the land area in the western US that is still in
federal hands should be distributed to the people for their private
stewardship of it, and public land of no intrinsic worth as sites of
beauty and historic landmarks around the world should be distributed
to the people who are best able to care for them.
Corporations are NOT Persons: A corporation is merely an association
of laborers, and deserves no more protection for itself or its work
than any private professional worker. Corporations have no right to
buy influence in public discourse or government policymaking, or in
the election of individuals to public positions. Just as a government
should have no more power to commit acts that individuals are
restricted from doing, so to should corporations not have the
ability to carry any more influence than a single individual. A
corporation cannot confiscate the individual rights of those that
associate with it, as such rights are inalienable, nor can those
that associate with it use their communal voice, influence, or money
to indimidate or force others to surrender their own rights.
The Individual is Sovereign: We re-establish that every individual
is endowed and evolved by its creator, Nature, with all inalienable
rights, and that the community, corporation, association, society,
state, nation, gender or ethnic group has none, as such entities are
fictitious memetic constructs which only exist in the human
imagination. Any attempt by such a group to restrain the rights of
the individual is a crime against humanity.
The Universe is for Everyone: Real Estate existing outside the bounds
of Earth that is unclaimed and uninhabited by other intelligent beings
is free to be claimed by the first individuals to reach said real
estate, stake their claim, improve its condition, and defend it
against interlopers. No fictitious legal entity has the right to
restrict the ability of the individual to inhabit and settle in
unclaimed territory, and no individual is bound to obey any such
restriction.
Your Genes are Your Intellectual Property: The unique DNA and RNA
sequences that describes the individual in whose cells those
sequences are found retains original property rights over that
unique sequence. Corporate entities, associations, or governments,
having no DNA to describe their memetic structure, cannot own
rights to DNA or RNA sequences except as licensed to them by the
individuals who posess or create them. Naturally evolved DNA and RNA
sequences cannot be owned by any individual or group, as they are
the property of all of Nature's creations.
Your Property is Your Life: Since one's home, land, and means of
transportation, self protection, and production play such a
crucial role in supporting the life of the individual and eir
dependents, Property Crimes committed against individuals by other
individuals or groups, whether for personal gain, political
expression, or public policy are crimes against life, and are to
be defended against as capital crimes are.
You are Responsible for Yourself: Placing demands upon the property
and resources of others is theft and slavery. Individual Sovereignty
mandates Individual Responsbility. The consenting Individual is
responsible for the security, maintenance, protection, and impact
upon others of their own property, productivity, progeny, and person.
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law: Any idea, action,
expression, or activity by consenting adults which does not
alienate the rights of other individuals cannot be restrained by
any other individual or group.
-- TANSTAAFLMike Lorrey
"In the end more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free." --- Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
"A person who wants a society that is both safe and free, wants what never has been, and what never will be." --- Thomas Jefferson
"It's a Republic, if you can keep it..." --- Benjamin Franklin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:35:46 MDT