Re: Raising children, spouses, and friends

From: Brent Allsop (allsop@fc.hp.com)
Date: Tue Sep 19 2000 - 09:03:11 MDT


        Yeaaa "David Lubkin" <lubkin@unreasonable.com>, this is my
favorite topic. I've tried to bring it up before, ask if anyone else
is bringing children to an extro conference and stuff but have never
noticed much interrest.

        I was raised in the Mormon Church and more or less left that
for extropianism. My wife and kids are still very staunch Mormons and
just barely tolerant of my non LDS ways. But I am working on
converting them as best as is possible. I'd love to have something at
an extropian conference that I could bring some of my 3 children (10,
12, and 14) too.

        I'm constantly working on converting friends too. But
converting always seems very futile. I think I've been extropian all
my life and could never really believe in anything else and most other
people (both theist and atheist alike) seem non extropian (deathists?)
their entire life and never interrested. I have meat a few friends
that were, like me, extropian from birth (they just didn't know what
to call themselves until they found the extropy institute.)

        In the Mormon church I was raised to be a "missionary" trying
to bring "salvation" to everyone. Now that I've found extropianism
I've realized that religion, counter to it's promises, is just worship
of death. Science/rationalism is the only possibility for progress,
eternal life... So I've attempted to convert my missionary upbringing
to being a missionary for extropianism. I'm still trying to "save the
world" but I just now know that rationalism, not some crucified
character..., is what is required to do it all.

        I spend much time trying to spread extropianism and rational
faith and hope memes. But current human minds don't seem to be very
good hosts for such memes for some reason. But once science starts
getting close to finding a cure for aging, then things will really
take off, I think.

        If we could catch kids when they are young, like the theists
do, I bet we could be much more successful at propagating extropian
memes than Christians are at propagating their memes. Today's
deathist society just makes human children unable to tolerate many
extropian beliefs once they get into and beyond the teen years.

                Brent Allsop



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