Re: (A zen in the art of typo maintenance.)

Entropyfoe@aol.com
Fri, 2 Oct 1998 22:43:35 EDT

>>Natasha Vita More (fka Nancie Clark) wrote:...
>>...> This year I missed the Persig Showers .
>>Correction: Persid Showers. (A zen in the art of typo maintenance.)
>Natasha

;-}

Ha ! very nice,
Pirsigs ideas on Quality have been useful in Extropian epistemology.
[mine at least] Even if in the final analysis you counter Pirsig's arguments, you need to consider his critique. It strikes to the heart of strong AI, the question, can the Quality of human consiousness can be completly contained by mechanical computations? Or can the quantative calculation simulate the brain, or is the Quality of consciousness, beyond material, not capable of computation. As for the Zen, I think Buddhism is the most Extropian religion. I know that not many Extropians adhere to conventional religions, but Buddhism's idea that one can transcend the human suffering, and reach enlightenment by mental effort and self development is Extropian. The Bohdisattva ideal is an excellent example of a trans/post human. Affirmation methods are a tool in personality development, like the Tibetan practice of repeating a mantra 100,000 times.

Om a hung, benza guru padme siddhi hum.
-Jay