From: "Robert Coyote" <coyyote@hotmail.com>
> This list, altho interesting, seems to have a dearth of practical
> applications in extropy
> things one can do right now is my main interest
>
> comments?
A real and present danger is that the practical aspects of extropy exceed the
capacity of human social order to adjust to it and to compensate for the
accompanying changes. Therefore a helpful enterprise would be to educate and
inform the general public about the benefits of accelerating technology, and
to assuage fears that spontaneous order in autonomous complex adaptive systems
(intelligent robots) threatens human life. For example, recent alarmist
comments by Stephen Hawking to the effect that the human race is in danger of
being "taken over" by machine intelligence should prompt responsible
extropians to formulate more reasonable perspectives on this issue.
An obvious threat to extropic progress is the religious fanatic terrorism such
as that of September 11, 2001. If you want to apply some practical extropy
right now, help to spread the memes of scientific reason and objectivity so
that humanity is not drowned in a sea of religious dementia and tribalism.
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment
We won't move into a better future until we debunk religiosity, the most
regressive force now operating in society.
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