META: Ideas-stupid

Laws, David (lawsd@magic.dcrt.nih.gov)
Sat, 7 Jun 1997 12:02:25 -0400


An idea must be expressed and debated before it can be finally classed
'stupid'. A 'doctor' in the 18th century would have considered the idea of
NOT bleeding an ailing individual 'stupid'.

david_laws@nih.gov

-----Original Message-----
> It makes my heart sink that u speak of this. Extropians are for new
ideas
> no? Well here is one, quite an intriguing one too, for Anders wrote a
great
> response about symbiotic systems. Why limit ideas?

Simple. Because many ideas are stupid. We all admire imaginitive
speculation, but when all those marvellous ideas have been thrown
into the soup, the next task is to sort out those that might stand
some chance of being useful, and discard the others without remorse.
That's how progess is made: evolution by mutation and /selection/.

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