On Mon, 14 Aug 2000, J. R. Molloy wrote:
> > The study I propose would expose the folly of "Totem and
> > Taboo In America" as it is practiced by fanatical witch doctors in ivory
> > towers. Congress could undertake it for the sake of preserving free speech
> > which could be thoroughly destroyed by one generation from now but as you
> > say, it almost certainly won't act.
> > FWP
>
> Yes, and because it will not act,
> expect a politically correct singularity to silence any and all dissent.
> Extropy has no foe greater than politics.
>
> --J. R.
It's rather disheartening to think we battled the dogmatic right in the
60's for freedom of speech so that a bunch of young left wing snots with
their air-head profs could abuse this liberty now.
> "If you have plenty of money, the best consequence (so they say) is that you no
> longer need to think about money. In the future we will have plenty of
> technology - and the best consequence will be that we will no longer have to
> think about technology. We will return with gratitude and relief to the topics
> that actually count."
> --David Gelernter
On a more positive note, I think Gelerneter has said a lot here. IMO the
problem we have with actualizing a high tech society using the
state-of-the-art technology is that of finding recognized political
leadership. "Political" could include well-know high tech personalities
like Moravec, Kurzweil, Gelernter etc. I'm not being elitist about this,
just realistic, in terms of basic social-psych principles. So let's look
at the "Oxygen Alliance Project" with its $50,000,000 grant at MIT. How
can we get more out of it than a lot of interesting "gadgets" like
computers you can wear on your glass frames or sew into your jacket?
How about inducing them to design a REALLY intelligent house instead of
the mickey mouse "smart homes" that are passed off on us today?
FWP
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Machine Psychology: http://www.atoma.f2s.com/atomareport.html (file #10)
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