John K. Clark, your defense is appreciated. Thank you.
However, this threatens to become a flame war. If you respond, please do so
off the list, as I am doing. I don't believe Mcelligott said anything that
would be taken seriously enough to require a response, particularly
considering your relative tenure as Extropians.
Mcelligott:
Thank you for pointing out that I used fighting words. This I noticed, albeit
too late. I consider myself lucky that I made that mistake over the Internet
rather than in person. I have a saying: I can make any mistake, as long as I
only make it once.
I suggest that *both* of you learn from this and not repeat my mistake.
Thank you.
Mcelligott should have quoted the crash-phrase rather than the tears-phrase
in his reply. A lot of people thought he was saying that sentimentality
would get me held upside-down over the toilet. It did seem like a bit of a
non-sequitur; I had no idea what he was talking about.
The part about being 18, I am responding to off the list.
(He's in trouble...)
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.