Re: Two Data Points don't make a trend

From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Mon Jun 26 2000 - 16:39:12 MDT


>From: "Everitt Mickey" <evmick@pnv.net>, Sun, 25 Jun 2000

>Regarding the current hissy fit...

No they don't make a trend .... (you need more data :-) )

However some possibly useful info to people viewing this list initially,
is that the regular posters (say ~30) are a very small percentage of
those that actually have signed up for the mailing list (~800).

And even then, there are a large number of extropian-types who
don't, or rarely read/write to the list at all. I'm one of those who's
been 'not-reading' more than 'reading' since I was first introduced
to the extropians (people and the list) in the early 90's.

A mailing list like this one can be viewed as a dynamic structure,
evolving and changing in time. The personalities shape it. Sometimes
the more prolific writers and/or dominant personalities lend their own
views to the email list in such a way to "flavor" it, to give it a
certain appearance. But that will change too, as people do.

I see this list having quite a different personality than the
one that I was actively a part of in the earlier 90s. That's fine.
And I think that in order to grok the ideas of alot of what
the extropians are and do, is to watch and compute the "sum of
the parts", or do a kind of Bayesian analysis for a long while.
This list is really just a small part, and sometimes not the most
accurate representation.

There will probably always be 'hissy fits' (Anyone remember the
classic spats between Tim May and Eric Raymond?). Pretty uncomfortable
for a lot of people but it's simply part of the larger realm of our
social fabric.

Amara

********************************************************************
Amara Graps email: amara@amara.com
Computational Physics vita: finger agraps@shell5.ba.best.com
Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/
********************************************************************
"It works better if you plug it in." -- Sattinger's Law



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