Perry E. Metzger wrote,
>
> Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com> writes:
> > WHAT? Extropians "by definition" libertarians? Where in the hell is
> > that written in stone?
>
> Dunno. When I set up the mailing list about a quarter million years
> ago, it seemed that the thing that distinguished us from random
> transhumans was that we were all libertarians.
I have to support Perry on this one.
The Welcome Message for this list used to say,
> From: Harry Shapiro <habs@panix.com>
> Subject: Meta: Welcome MSG Updated
> Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 17:39:40 -0500 (EST)
[....]
> The unifying characteristic of the list recipients is their interest
> in libertarian politics, techniques of life extension (including
> cryonics), technological extension of human intelligence and
> perception, nanotechnology, spontaneous orders, memetics, and a number
> of other related ideas
The Extropian FAQ <http://www.mrob.com/extro_faq.html> or
<http://www.idiom.com/~arkuat/extr/faq/exifaq.html> used to say,
> Politically, extropians are close kin to the libertarians, including some
> anarchists, some classical liberals, and even a political neoconservative
or
> two.
[....]
> In fact, a strong claim of Extropian libertarianism (voluntarism,
> anarchocapitalism, etc.) is that the lack of interference from central
> authority leaves everyone free to cooperate in more meaningful ways.
The ExI site still has the following sections of the FAQ,
<http://www.extropy.com/faq/minority.html>
> The libertarian orientation of most extropians results in a "live and let
> live" attitude, so long as the other person doesn't initiate the threat
> of force against us.
and <http://www.extropy.com/faq/livediff.html>
> Some extropians are very active in libertarian politics, and in legal
> challenges to abuse of government power.
It may not be official policy, but in the beginning Extropians were
generally represented and talked about as being Libertarians. There are
hundreds of articles and references on the web that still refer to
Extropians as Libertarians. These can be found with any search engine such
as <http://www.google.com/search?q=extropians+and+libertarian>.
-- Harvey Newstrom, Security Testing Practice Leader, Fiderus Phone:321-676-4894 Tollfree:866-FIDERUS Mobile:321-258-4809 FAX:321-676-5707 Pager:866-786-1001 or mailto:pager@HarveyNewstrom.com Web: http://HarveyNewstrom.com or http://Fiderus.com
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