Re: Explaining Extropy to mundanes

Max More (maxmore@primenet.com)
Wed, 12 Feb 1997 09:38:24 -0800


At 07:24 AM 2/12/97 -0800, Shaun wrote:
>On 11/02/97, Cyber Ed wrote:
>
>>Extropians, I think that Extropian memes are not well known in the
>>general populace. It takes some time to explain extropy, the
>>singularity, cryonics etc.
>
> That is definately true, but it is not nearly an impasse. There are
>extropian-based programs that are doing a good job of dealing with this.
>For starters, the Extropic Art Movement (EAM) is currently gaining a fair
>amount of publicity. Art in general is a good way of conveying complex
>ideas in an unobtrusive and unthreatening manner.

I think the Extropic Art Movement can do a great deal to spread extropic
ideas. It's a different approach than the solely highly verbal and purely
analytical style in which extropian ideas have been presented so far.
("Solely" is important here, since I do not meant that extropic art
excludes this approach, it merely is not primary to it. In my view, art
*shows* rather than *explains*) If extropian ideas are to spread, several
approaches will be needed. Although extropian ideas may yet not be
widespread enough, I'm constantly amazed at how far they have spread in
such a short time. And that's just what is presented as explicitly
"extropian". Many many extropian ideas have become familiar on their own to
millions but not under the description "extropian".

One reason I haven't been posting much recently (until today) is that I'm
hard at work on my way of spreading extropian ideas: I'm at work on a book
titled "The Future of Human Beings" that will be published perhaps as soon
as this fall, and no later than spring '98. My approach is not to
immediately fire off the most hard to accept ideas in isolation, but to put
them in a developmental context to make the changes we foresee appear
highly reasonable and likely.

Max

Max More, Ph.D.
more@extropy.org
http://www.primenet.com/~maxmore
President, Extropy Institute, Editor, Extropy
exi-info@extropy.org, http://www.extropy.org
(310) 398-0375