Re: Call for European Transhumanists (Was: looking for...)

Holger Wagner (Holger.Wagner@lrz-muenchen.de)
Sat, 01 Nov 1997 10:22:25 +0100


Max More wrote:
>
> At 11:07 PM 10/30/97 +0100, Holger wrote:
> >
> >I'd be very interested in this. At the moment, the names "Extropianism"
> >and "Transhumanism" are pretty new to me, and I'm not exactly sure what
> >exactly the difference is. The way I see it, Transhumanism is probably a
> >part of Extropianism, but I wouldn't be sure if - for example part of
> >the Extropian Principles - can be found in Transhumanism,too.
>
> Holger, I explained the relationship between transhumanism and extropianism
> in my post of 10/30/97. If you didn't receive that message, please let me
> know and I'll resend it.

I'm not sure if I got this - I've changed from digest mode to the normal
mailing-list yesterday. I didn't unsubscribe from the digest but haven't
received the last one. I guess I'll try retrieving it from the
mailserver (I might have missed some of the replies to my postings, too)

> Again, in brief: Extropianism in one specific
> version of transhumanism. It's specific character is defined by the
> Extropian Principles (see our web site at www.extropy.org)
> There can be
> many kinds of transhumanists, all of whom share general goals of overcoming
> human limits. They may differ on the best means of doing so, and on what
> they emphasize.

I think this perfectly answers my question, thanks!

> ...
> >I'm living in Munich, Germany and am currently trying to find a few
> >people around me who are open to Extropian ideas for discussion
>
> Sorry we didn't meet when I was in Munich in March this year.

Unfortunately, I didn't even know Extropy existed at that time. I first
read about it in the excellent article in that German computer-magazine
(c't).

> I believe
> Extropy Institute have a couple of contacts in the area. We would like to
> encourage an Institute offshoot there.

That sure would be a good thing. I'm currently discussing some of the
extropian ideas with a few friends of mine, and forwarding them some of
the postings to the mailing-list. So far, the reactions have been
sceptical - but the more they know, the more they understand it makes a
lot of sense (I, for an instance, thought cryonics were more of a
religious idea until I read the part in the Extropy-FAQ which made quite
clear what it's about - it's not a sci-fi-dream, it's just "the second
worst thing that can happen to you - the worst is being eaten up by
worms" ;-) )

later,
Holger

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