It's interesting. I find a lot of the Extropian stuff interesting, but I
too favor the St. Dawkins-style virianism (virulence?). It seems as there
is a place for both; perhaps there could be orthodox virians (Dawkinites)
and applied virians (Extropians) or the like. It may even be to the benefit
of the meme as a whole--not only might we have a wider appeal, but since
the two memes do fit well together (IMHO), we might be able to get some
cross-infection (i.e. Dawkinites discovering Extropianism, or Extropians
discovering Dawkinism). This kind of division, if not handled carefully,
could leave the meme vunerable to (perhaps a lesser version of) the split
of the christ-meme into catholic and protestant sub-memes.
>In my incomplete understanding, Extropians seem awfully millenial, just like
>fundamentalists: "Just get enough computers and spaceships, load yourself up
>into silicon, and death will vanish and everything will be allright." Rather
>like the Rapture. Also, a lesson of evolution is that death is a Good Thing.
>This may even apply to minds.
Perhaps, though, extropianism is a good pull--the rapture is quite a good
bait meme for fundamentalism; why not capitalize on that success with a
silicon rapture. It isn't a necesity but it wouldn't have to be a
liability.
Just my two memes, er, cents worth.
>Book to add:
>Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Dennett
>(I will have several more when I can get good references)
>-David Craig (da6d@beauty1.phy.olemiss.edu)
I haven't checked the virus web-page in a little while, but what would be
nice is if there could be an annotated virus biblography; "important" books
with substance-based reviews.
Cheers, Phil
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Phil Rutschman machack@pacificrim.net Web Page: http://real.soon.now
Independant Macintosh Consultant
Western Washington University Comp-Sci Pre-major