Re: Defining "transhumanism", a new suggestion

Kathryn Aegis (aegis@igc.apc.org)
Tue, 20 Oct 1998 16:12:51 -0700 (PDT)

I am glad that my approach was adopted in restructuring a suggested definition. I think that it will go a long way towards resolving the friction between 'thinkers' and 'doers' that has plagued us over the past two years.

If we were to incorporate some version Max's suggestion in the FAQ, however, I suggest that we also incorporate annotations to the two sections of it. I already have excellent paragraphs submitted for that section of the FAQ that could be used as annotations. That way, someone could read the part of the definition and then some comments expanding and explaining it in other terms. I want to make sure that our ideas reach everyone, not just the smart kids!

With regard to the OED, I should note that nobody gets to write definitions except the editors. Any person can submit words for consideration, however, along with a description of how the word is being used and the first print literary reference for it. They are only just now completing the definition for 'website', so I don't forsee any action on my suggestion any time soon. Just having the conversation with an editor, however, sharpened my thinking about how we structure our approach to defining terminology.

Sin,

Kathryn Aegis