From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Sun Jul 20 2003 - 15:05:24 MDT
matus (Michael Dickey) writes
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]On Behalf Of matus
> Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 9:51 AM
> To: extropians@extropy.org
> Subject: Extropian Productivity (was RE: flame wars)
>
> There has been more chatter on this list about thread titles and
> discussion names then there has been on a real effort to pursue
> technological progression. I would add to this comment the complaint
> that a lot of the discussions that take place are not important, while
> important discussion often are reacted to negatively.
What the hell, is everybody subscribed to this list in
digest mode except me, and moreover have not heard about
the unique wonders of the page-down key?
Since I've already made this point numerous times, I'll
try a different approach: think of all the idiotic and
pointless (TO YOU!) threads as broadening the audience
for *your* posts too! Clearly if so many people are
engaged in so many discussions, just think about how
many *must be* reading your own idiotic and pointless
posts! ;-) (Just kidding---I like your posts.)
> Ok..., let's talk more about brains the size of Jupiter and
> what we would ask god if we came across him, because these
> things are important.
You and I may enjoy such telelogically arcane discussions,
but as some have made clear recently, it's not everyone's
cup of tea. You'd *really* have a hard case proving that
talk of Jupiter brains was as important, as, say, containing
AIDS or liberals.
> Previous to that, a thread developed talking about cloning the most
> intelligent people in the world and raising the children in science
> friendly environments, receiving many replies and much discussion. I
> suggested instead that Extropians just adopt any of the thousands of
> information craved children out there with no good homes and start
> raising some extropian kids.
>
> 0 replies. Not even a 'wow, good idea' (perhaps it just wasn't as
> well)
Or maybe no one objected. Whenever I get 0 replies, I always
infer that at least one thing is now settled, and that everyone
agrees with me. Maybe you have a self-esteem problem? ;-)
(Just being comical, of course. The point of my irony
is that with so much to read every day, it's no wonder
than many of one's posts are ignored. And as for "self
esteem" problem, the joke here is for someone to
think that his views are unanimously agreed to by the
1000+ people reading this list---even though, in addition,
it definitely is true that many people including me just
silently pass over that with which we agree.)
> Additionally, just recently, I lamented that the banning of DDT causes
> some 2 - 4million deaths annually and that since its ban it has caused
> nearly 60 million deaths, putting one Rachel Carson as the top mass
> murderer of all time if you consider people to be morally culpable for
> their opinions being believed.
That's a good point. But there are at least three kinds of mass murderers:
Category 1: Hitler, Stalin, and Pot Pol, who deliberately
singled out entire of classes of people to exterminate
Category 2: Mao Ze Dong, whose inexcusable tyrannical policies
killed 30 million people. Now even though he never planned
for that consequence---unlike the category 1 mass
murderer---he didn't really give a damn that it happened.
(See his biographer.)
Category 3: Rachel Carson and Franklin Roosevelt, whose suggestions
and blind policies lead to the deaths of tens of millions,
because they (innocently) simply didn't understand the
reality in which they were living.
> Can we do something about the DDT ban?
Who is we? Actually, what's left of my weekend is booked up.
> Extropians like to talk to talk, but not walk the walk.
Each to his own, I say.
> As I said, the deep value I find in the Extropy list is that it is
> perhaps the largest collection of intelligent people I have yet found on
> a single list, and I have learned much from it, both refining my own
> ideas, learning new ones, and hopefully helping to refine others ideas.
Okay, but that's not good enough now, is it? You and
Harvey (and I hope not Natasha) need to *reform*
everything, right? Alas, people like me usually end
up being the reformee, which all the activists get to
be the reformers, that lack the mental circuitry to
imagine the possibility that sometimes good things
should be left alone.
> Something about the Extropy list as it is tends to keep trolls and
> annoying posters who can contribute little intellectually to any of us
> away, and I do not feel it is really necessary to start listing more
> rules and enforcing them, for example, subject line policies. Are
> things really *that* bad?
Oh, okay. I apologize. You're not one of the wreckers.
> Don't worry, I do not suggest that ExI as a group make any official
> movement toward accomplishing something productive, instead I call upon
> individuals to do whatever they can to bring about extropian ideals.
Hooray! I guess you and Spike will just never make good Social Planners.
Lee, over and out.
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