Re:Obituary for Mike Lorrey

From: Alex Future Bokov (alexboko@umich.edu)
Date: Wed Aug 13 2003 - 19:35:11 MDT

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    Maybe now we can more about AI, cryonics, crypto, networking, space travel,
    and life extension. And less about gun control, patriotism, and emotional
    attachment to one economic system versus another.

    Conformity? You damn well bet... localized, consensual, emergent
    conformity. Also known as consensus. Also known as having a platform. Without
    that, any forum or organization lacks meaning and focus. Luddites are not
    welcome on this list, nor are Flat Earthers, nor are Scientologists. Maybe
    left-wingers and right-wingers shouldn't be welcome either. After all, we
    don't subscribe to NRA or GOP mailing lists and rant about nanouploads, do we?

    Maybe they should go off and found their own Extropian Gun-Nut or Extropian
    Single-Payer Health Care or Extropian Europe Sux America Rulez lists... maybe
    that will even memetically benefit Extropy overall by playing good cop/bad cop
    with the public's perception of us (which one is the good one and which one is
    the bad one depends of course on your frame of reference).

    But IMHO the list is better off without the constant Samantha/Mike
    flamewars. Of course if Mikes absence doesn't solve the problem then by the
    process of elimination we'll know where the problem lies.

    That being said, I actually agree with Mike on a lot of topics, particularly
    free markets, gun rights, property rights, and individual responsibility. But
    it's embarassing to have these views presented in a propagandistic,
    confrontational, irrational manner. Decentralized systems work because they
    work, not because they're the "American Way" nor because they have some sort
    of privileged moral status. It's game theory and information theory, people,
    not some kind of religion!

    ----
    This message was posted by Alex Future Bokov to the Extropians 2003 board on ExI BBS.
    <http://www.extropy.org/bbs/index.php?board=67;action=display;threadid=56759>
    


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