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Subject: 
Re: Extropianism
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Sat, 17 Jul 1999 19:11:43 GMT
Reply-To: 
johnneal@#nomorespam#uswest.net
Viewed: 
406 times
  
Larry Pieniazek wrote:

Thanks to recent lugnet.FAQ rumblings and a nice chain of serendipitious
references, I have been reminded of Extropianism.

Robert Munafo's pages have an interesting summation
http://www.mrob.com/extro_prin.html

Extropianism is quite Libertarian, and like Libertarianism, puts a great
deal of stock in the innate goodness of most all of us. Good reading.
Unless you LIKE doom and gloom, that is.

Okay, Lar, I guess I would like to hear why you think goodness is innate?
I would think stuff like survival of self would be innate, but that
goodness would be a learned trait.  We are certainly born innocent but
quite selfish to the exclusion of the rights of others.  Only by learning
do we come to respect others and their property, etc.  This is one reason
why I think most people in this world are not good, because they have not
learned how to be good.

And BTW, extropianism is quite naive in assuming that science and wisdom
will solve our problems.  What difference does it make whether I live in a
cave 50,000 years ago or am sitting in front of a TV watching Jerry
Springer?  I still live (maybe longer, with or without the aid of a
ventilator), and I still die.  The important questions will always be
beyond science by definition, and therefore the pursuit of them through
science is merely an exercise in futility.  People want to know that their
lives mean something, that there is more to life than simply working hard
every day to make ends meet.  Science makes our lives more convenient, more
comfortable, and maybe even richer, but not more meaningful.  Property,
after all, is just property, and the guy with the most stuff at the end
doesn't win cuz you can't take it with you AFAIK.  Post-Modernism, baby.
Science is bankrupt;-)

-John



--
Larry Pieniazek larryp@novera.com  http://my.voyager.net/lar
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Message has 2 Replies:
  naiveté (was: Re: Extropianism)
 
Do I smell a troll? (...) I would like to hear the basis for it too. I know that I'm innately good, but I do see an awful lot of seemingly bad people. In many ways I support the LP platform, but I don't think innate goodness is needed for it to (...) (25 years ago, 19-Jul-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Extropianism
 
(...) Actually, I've read a book called "The Origins of Virture" for my Behavioural Ecology (Sociobiology) class a semester or two ago. The author argued that the reason humans evolved reciprocity behaviour paterns was that in the cases of hunting (...) (25 years ago, 2-Nov-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Extropianism
 
Thanks to recent lugnet.FAQ rumblings and a nice chain of serendipitious references, I have been reminded of Extropianism. Robert Munafo's pages have an interesting summation (URL) is quite Libertarian, and like Libertarianism, puts a great deal of (...) (25 years ago, 16-Jul-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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