From: "Charlie Stross" <charlie@antipope.org>
> On Fri, Aug 31, 2001 at 08:45:55PM +1000, Russell Blackford wrote:
> >
> > Just don't blame me, Olga. :) > > I didn't vote for the current
government and I doubt that any of the other Aussies on this list did,
either.
>
> This is probably a general rule of the Extropians list. >
> Did *anyone* on this list vote for the current president/government
> of their own country, wherever it might be? ;-) > (Clue: politicians have
to play follow the herd. Extropians are not herd > animals.)
Good point. Extropians are not the only ones (not imputing that Charlie
Stross said this - he did not) who are not herd animals (e.g., most of the
people I've known in my life have been liberals, but do not exhibit
"copycat" traits).
Having been around freethinkers (nontheist variety) for a couple of decades,
I've heard them explain: "you can't herd atheists ..." (usually, when
consensus can't be reached, and therefore policy can't be established,
resulting in yet another splinter group, and another, and another - each one
smaller than the previous, each with their own distinctive un-herd-like
features). Naturally occurring nanolunkhead nontechnology, you might say.
Granted that Extropycats don't follow the herd. But, then again, is
un-herd-like behavior its own herd-like behavior? That is to say, are
Extropians gathering under the Black Sheep Uncolaition? [I've deliberately
misspelled that last word - reference is to a couple of old soft drink
commercials, not the word "coalition."]
Will this tendency of not being herd-like (cf. to the general public) help
or hinder technological goals? (As I see it, it may well both help and
hinder - e.g., help because of the independent thinking that Extropians may
do well, hinder because of a certain lack of empathy for the cats of the
world, or an unwillingness to deal with the Beastmasters in the world?)
Olga
> -- Charlie
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