Re: The Unfathomable

Steve C. Dotson (neuroknot@hotbot.com)
Wed, 03 Nov 1999 13:41:34 -0800

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On Wed, 3 Nov 1999 14:01:55 Spudboy100 wrote:
>In a message dated 11/03/1999 12:13:36 PM Eastern >Standard Time,

>If Extropianism or TransHumanism's basic tenant is >merely atheism and an
>obsession with concepts of the deep future, I guess >that it will have a
>self-limiting impact.

If you believe the first part of your sentence, you are laboring under very uncreative and uni-dimensional assumptions about the potential of extropian ideas.

>Playing Devil's Advocate I could
>say that the emphasis on material solutions to >spiritual problems will never
>be solved by this World-View, that reduces humanity to nothing more then a
>mobile central nerbous system..and so forth.

Please!, "reduces humanity to nothing more..."?

Apparently you are oblivious to what religion has been telling people for millenia: you are a sinner, you are nothing compared to the glory of the Lord and etc.

And What is so bad about being a moblie central nevous system....with potential? What is the alternative you are proposing? In every post of yours, I detect a constant hinting at some kind of "spiritual world" that you seem to think extropians are missing. For example, last week you insinuated that extropians are anti-religious because they are ignorant of other traditions and belief systems. A few posts, including mine, demonstrated that this is incorrect.

Now you seem to be saying that material solutions will never solve spritual problems. How are you defining spiritual? Give me an example of a spiritual problem. I am thinking that "spirtual problems" are at their root material problems. (Often involving common things such as deficts or excesses of neurotransmitters or a dearth of zeros in one's bank accounts.)

>If you were in a playful mood you can then reply that >'material problems will
>never be solved by spiritual solutions.." My concern >is that Extropianism
>will never play in Peoria, as we say in the States, and thats where the money
>is. You do like money, don't you?

Are you truly interested in getting extropianism to play in Peoria or do you just like to play "devil's advocate" as you mentioned above? And are you insinuating that we should create a "spritual mythology" some we can win friends and make money?

Steve

p.s. Is your phrase "merely atheism" in the first paragraph a reference to Lewis's "Mere Christianity" or is that what you really think about the greastest liberating philosophy in history?

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