Re: The Extropian Principles

Twirlip of Greymist (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Sun, 28 Jul 1996 22:50:52 -0700 (PDT)


On Jul 28, 8:33pm, Robin Hanson wrote:
} Subject: Re: The Extropian Principles

} >I think spontaneous order is an especially tough one for people to grasp.
} I have trouble grasping its centrality myself. So I might be a good

Basic philosophy. Actually maybe Max would insist on more than this,
but one good reason I could give for emphasizing SO is that most people
don't get it. When people look at order they usually look up for te
source -- where's the watchmaker? It's only since Adam Smith and then
Darwin that we've realized structures can spring up from simpler
origins and thus done away with the need for the Deist God. So SO
doesn't have to mean we have to do everything in a self-organizing
manner, but it at least tells us to recognize the concept. Easy for us,
but much of the world doesn't get it.

META: David, is majordomo setting the "Reply-To:" field? It doesn't
seem to be doing so for this list; I discovered one piece of mail seemed
to have gone only to Max.

Merry part,
-xx- Damien R. Sullivan X-) <*> http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~phoenix

"No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings."
-- William Blake, _The Marriage of Heavenand Hell_