Re: Wilson/Extropian conflict?

Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
12 Dec 1998 00:37:14 +0100

"Steven Cordich" <calrissian@hotbot.com> writes:

> Having recently read Extropian goals of moving beyond dogmatic types
>thinking, perhaps I'm guilty of dogmatic thinking myself when I point
>out what seems to be a rather sharp division between some peoples
>views of Leary and Wilson and Max More's listing them as recommeded
>reading. My time is limited, so could somebody clarify what I'm
>missing here.

The simple explanation is that people simply disagree over the value of Wilson's writings. It should also be added that Eli tends to be a bit... ehum... categorical.

Wilson is an intelligent man who likes to challenge traditional thinking, and he has probably helped more people than I can count with breaking free of constrained views of the world through his novels and books. In this respect he is quite extropian, especially since he also advocates a lot of the stuff we want - life extension, freedom, mental development far beyond the human level, cryonics etc. The problem with Wilson is that he can be uncritical - he is always happy to play with the latest heresy but not to scrutinize if it holds water (instead, if pressed, he jumps to a new heresy) - and often likes to mix serious ideas with jokes or even elaborate double-level messages that may or may not be what he is really meaning. Tricky to decide what he is *really* saying, and not everybodys cup of tea.

I would recommend Wilson as an eye-opener, but I wouldn't trust him as a guide for a moment. We need critical thinking, not just wide open minds.

-- 
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Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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