> The Extropian Principles is a pragmatic document, advocating
> a willingness to change and evolve and explicilty eschewing
> ideological commitments. When push comes to shove, wouldn't
> we all rather be pragmatists than worm food?
Frankly, no. I want to live forever precisely /because/ there are wonderful things like food, sex, art, philosophy, freedom. If I could achieve immortality by becoming a slave providing those things for someone else, I wouldn't bother.
I am not such a hard-liner about specific freedoms and specific political structures of the moment--hell, I can't even define what "libertarian" is in a any philosophically rigorous way (and neither can anyone else, despite what Randians tell you). If other systems will get me the kind of life I want, I'll certainly entertain them (though current evidence suggests otherwise). But I do know that I want more than mere continuation of my existence; I want /life/ in every sense of the word. If that's an "ideological commitment", then sobeit.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC