Re: Extropian Principles 3.0: Please comment on new version

Dan Fabulich (daniel.fabulich@yale.edu)
Fri, 11 Sep 1998 00:39:20 -0400

Damien Broderick wrote:
>I'd seriously counsel a search for some less damaged word. `Critical' is
>not it, and nothing occurs to me right now - and I'm not an extropian
>anyway, so I have no right to say anything more definite than I've said
>already.

The advantage to using "critical" is that it gets automatically balanced by "optimism." If you went up to somebody and said "I'm dynamically optimistic!" they'd be likely to mistake you for the "Pollyanna"-type optimists that the principles expressly reject. On the other hand, if you instead told someone "I'm critically optimistic!" I think they'd get a pretty clear idea of what you meant.

Alternately, here's a thought: Rational Optimism? Blends Rational Thinking and Dynamic Optimism in a clear and concise way.

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