Re: Extropian Statement??

Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Mon, 21 Dec 1998 13:10:37 -0500

Max M wrote:

> From: Terry Donaghe <tdonaghe@yahoo.com>
>
> >"I do not advocate the initiation of force to promote social or
> >political goals."
>
> >Comment?
>
> It sounds about as practical as comunism!
>
> What about preemptive strikes? I would hate to wait until I got hit by a
> mugger to react.

As the evidence shows, carrying concealed weapons has a significant deterrent effect on the population as a whole, while openly carrying weapons deters crime from the individual carrying. You don't need to initiate force to have an effect.

> Or how about hostile countries running the arms race with
> ill intent? Do we wait until the bombs are dropping?

As 50 years experience showed, Mutual Assured Destruction did a fine job of out blinking the potential agressors.

> I can think of so many exceptions to this rule that it is hard to take
> seriously. It is a good ideal though, and one that I think many of us live by
> whenever we can.

Please come up with some more concrete examples of why this would not work. The two you cited are obviously inadequate.

Mike Lorrey