Adamantly preventing tradgedy? (was Humour)
Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Thu, 26 Dec 1996 14:20:01 -0500
John P. Satta wrote:
>
> >Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote:
> >>
> >> I see the Holocaust as a horrendous tragedy, and if
> >> someone smaller than me made a joke about it, I'd punch his lights out.
> >> --
>
> Michael Lorrey then replied:
> >I concur with Eliezer.
> I understand this is a visceral response to a highly emotionally charged
> subject. I'm not trying to start an argument but I would like to know why
> you are upset at making a profit from this film.
>
For the same reason I would be a bit perturbed at someone selling
tickets to his mother's funeral. Tickets to his own funeral is another
matter, especially if he is still around to enjoy it. I have since the
movie came out learned that Spielberg put the profits to use in
educational projects on the Holocaust, and am somewhat mollified. The
fact that he did this indicates he shares my own revulsion from
profiting on the dead.
Seeing the article in today's paper on a study by a gentleman at
Cambridge on Jews who served in the 3rd Reisch as high ranking officers
while their families were being exterminated was a rather disturbing
reflection on today's "don't ask, don't tell" policies towards gays in
our own military. That Hitler and Goering were hypocrites enough to
grant honorary "Aryan" status to Jews who were able to sufficiently deny
their heritage and display physical Aryan traits (and were vital to the
warfighting capability of the Duetchland), or even ignore the well known
jewishness of some of their best officers in favor of tactical expertise
makes their treatment of these individuals relatives that much more
horrific.
Since we as transhumans are seeking to attain the next level of human
evolution, we run serious risks in having our ideas and programs branded
by the popular media as neo-eugenics, racist, neo-nazi, etc., especially
as it seems more and more likely that there will be serious disparities
of opportunity for individuals to take advantage of the promise of
upcoming technologies in attaining such breakthroughs in personal
development. We must be militant in working toward making the technology
available to as many individuals who are capable of comprehending it. TO
say that it can't be helped is a lazy attitude to take, and
representative of the type of intellectual laziness that led to a
culmination of antisemitic policies such as the Final Solution. If the
individuals who first attain "godhood" are so indifferent or even
hostile toward their brothers and sisters who have not yet ascended, we
would wind up as advocates not of the next step, but of the final
mistake. It is this innate fear that many people have toward the future
reality that manifests itself in the neo-luddism of today. Fearing that
they will be left out or even become the repressed of tomorrow, they
seek to prevent such events from transpiring or technologies from
evolving.
For this reason, we must be adamant about inclusivness, that the
transhuman future is for all humans, not just for the elite that will
develop the tools of attaining it. We must also as a group be decisively
aware of this lesson from the past. Remember, the Nazi party was fouded
by misfits, outcasts, and intellectuals, just the type to be subscribers
to this list.
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey
---------------------------------------------------------
President retroman@tpk.net
Northstar Technologies Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com
Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com
http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/
---------------------------------------------------------
Inventor, Webmaster, Ski Guide, Entrepreneur, Artist,
Outdoorsman, Libertarian, Certified Genius.