Re: Trans- vs. Non-human

Eugene Leitl (Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Thu, 5 Dec 1996 18:48:40 +0100 (MET)


On Wed, 4 Dec 1996, Steve Witham wrote:

>
> This is the main reason I'm an extropian: because the point is not just
> to celebrate change, any old change, but to try to make change for the
> better rather than the worse. Extropy rather than entropy.

"Better" is an observer-dependent metric. Being human encompasses a lot
of traits, not all of them positive. You should list some of them up,
then checking whether all extropians would agree.

There is a danger in trying to press a heterogenous (an understatement)
bunch of people under the outward spiraling banner of Extropy. Extropy is
a tool, not a religion. There is a tendency here to use labeling as threat
of exclusion: "You are not Extropian. You do not belong to us. You have to
think thus & thus to call yourself Extropian".

(Don't get me wrong, this is not an attempt to introduce
overpermissiveness: "anything goes" goes exactly nowhere. A movement not
recognizable as such is not a beakon, it draws zero followers. I just
say be wary of your argumentation stratagems.
)

ciao,
'gene