NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/alt/cyberpun/5992

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From: [e-mail] (Mitchell Porter)
Subject: Unauthorized blurb for Extropians - LONG
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The following is the welcome message for the Extropians mailing list,
and a statement of "Extropian Principles". I think it all pretty much
speaks for itself.

>To: [e-mail]
From: [e-mail]
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Subject: (META) The Welcome Message
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Date: Sun, 20 Sep 92 15:37:48 EDT
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        This message is copyleft

In my previous post, I stated that I would shortly repost the welcome
message. If you have any input on how it should be changed or altered,
please send your comments to:    [e-mail]

The following was written by Dean T, Dave K, Perry M, myself and
others. (I think Dave did most of the work).

I have also appended THE EXTROPIAN PRINCIPLES V. 2.01 August 7 1992,
by Max More - Executive Director, Extropy Institute (ExI).

This is not currently part of the welcome message. I will most likely
add it soon.

/Harry

In response to your request, your address has been added to the
Extropians mailing list.  Welcome!  I hope you will find the
information you receive through the list to be useful and
enlightening, or at least amusing and harmless.

The unifying characteristic of the list recipients is their interest
in anarchocapitalist politics, techniques of life extension (including
cryonics), the technological extension of human intelligence and
perception, nanotechnology, spontaneous orders, memetics, and a number
of other related ideas.  If these topics seem to you to be naturally
related and mutually consistent, you might already be an Extropian.

This little note is just to provide you with some guidelines for
the use of the list:

Please note that communication to the Extropian mailing list is
considered *private*. It should not be forwarded to third parties and
each reader of the list must have an active subscription or be
registered with the list administrator. You are welcome to keep
archival copies of list traffic you receive for personal use.

  1) Mail regarding additions/deletions to the list or problems
    you're having in receiving the list, should be sent to:

    [e-mail]

 1a) Please allow up to 3 to 5 business days for your requests to
     be processed. Please note most requests are handled with 12 to 32
     hours. The handling of requests on the days just prior to and after
     holiday weekends maybe significantly delayed.

 2) Mail to be forwarded directly to all members of the list
    should be sent to:

    [e-mail]


 3) Traffic on this mailing list can run quite high, sometimes as
    much as fifty messages per day.  We like to keep the signal-
    to-noise ratio as high as we can, so please restrain the
    impulse to post "me-too" messages or ad hominem flames to the
    list at large.  If you cannot resist engaging in such
    discourse, please do so in private e-mail.

 4) Due to the volume of list traffic and the cost of disk
    storage, please restrain yourself also from over-quoting
    previous posts -- just a couple of lines to re-cap for those
    who weren't paying attention is usually sufficient.

 5) The list is conceived more as a forum for the exchange of new
    information and techniques, than as a forum for debating the
    basics.  We do have our disagreements -- often quite lively
    ones -- but rarely about really basic issues.  Arguments in
    favor of socialized medicine or dying a natural death at age
    sixty are, judging by past experience, likely to be
    ridiculed, refuted, and finally ignored.

 6) However, don't be afraid to ask questions.  This is a forum
    for the interchange of information... speak up!  Many of the
    answers, though, can be found in just a handful of books:

    "Engines of Creation" and "Unbounding the Future" by K.
    Eric Drexler
    "The Machinery of Freedom" by David Friedman
    "Smart Drugs and Nutrients" by John Morgenthaler and Ward
    Dean
    "Maximum Life Span" and "The 120-Year Diet" by Roy Walford
    "Life Extension:  A Practical Scientific Approach" by Durk
    Pearson and Sandy Shaw
    "The Selfish Gene," "The Extended Phenotype," and "The Blind
        Watchmaker" by Richard Dawkins

    in EXTROPY magazine,

    Extropy
    P.O. Box 57306,
    Los Angeles, CA 90057-0306.
    Tel: [phone]

    CompuServe: 76436,3157
    Internet:  [e-mail]
        SUBSCRIPTION RATES for a year/two issues:
        USA: $8 ($18 institutions)
        Canada and Mexico: $9  (Institutions $20)
        Overseas: $12 (airmail)  (Institutions $22)
        BACK ISSUES:  #7: $4; #6: $3; #5: $3

    and in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list, which will be
    available eventually.

    With regard to "required reading," list member Hal Finney makes
    the following worthwhile points:

"I disagree that familiarity with Eric Drexler's books on
nanotechnology is necessary before beginning discussions on this
list.

"Extropianism is a philosophy of life.  Max More, editor of
Extropy magazine, has identified four extropian principles:

    - Boundless Expansion
    - Self Transformation
    - Dynamic Optimism
    - Intelligent Technology

"I won't try to explain these in detail; people should subscribe
to Extropy (only $4.00 per twice-yearly issue) to read Max's
descriptions of these principles.

"But I think you can see that the basic point is a belief that the
future will allow virtually unlimited expansion in the
possibilities for our own personal lives.  Extropians reject
limits imposed by outsiders on what we can do and what we can
become.  We embrace the future, with all of its awe-inspiring
possibilities.

"The role of Drexler's books, and other books such as David
Friedman's "The Machinery of Freedom", is to show that these
aren't just idle musings and hopes, but are well-grounded
expectations about what we are going to have to work with in the
next century.  Without having read those books, such common-place
extropian ideas as immortality or a world without governments
might seem absurd.

"If you haven't read these books but want to ask questions about
these and other extropian ideas, the problem is that the answer
is usually going to be, first read the book.  You can't answer a
question about the possibility for immortality in a page or two,
not in any kind of convincing way.

"Now, after you've read some of these books, you still may not
agree that all of these ideas are practical, but at least you can
discuss them on common ground with other list members.  That kind
of discussion is practical, helpful, and informative.  Extropians
are not dogmatists.  If there are practical problems standing in
the way of the realization of their hopes and ideals, we should
be discussing them now, so that solutions can be found.

"Of course, some people will be opposed to extropian ideas not
because they seem impractical, but because they seem immoral.
Re-read the list of extropian principles above.  If you don't
agree with them, if you don't agree that we should attempt to
break through all the limits that constrain us today, then you
probably won't benefit from discussion with extropians.

"The extropian list is not meant to proselytize, to gain converts.
Most people either find the ideas instinctivelly attractive, or
they find them abhorent.  It's a waste of everyone's time to come
on the list and to argue that governments are really good for us
and that death is desirable.  Those are the kinds of messages
that lead to serious flaming, and no one benefits from them.

"To sum up, the extropians lists welcome members who share an interest
in the exciting, optimistic, future-oriented philosophy of
extropianism.  If you're new to these ideas, they can offer
suggestions to help you find books, authors, and other resources to
learn more about what we can and will become.  If you're more
experienced, they offer discussion and feedback with a high level of
quality and responsiveness.  The future is coming, and the extropian
lists offer you a chance to get ready for the fantastic opportunities
that await us all."

There are two other "offical" extropian communication activities.

There is now the ExI Essay list. It is dedicated to the presentation
of essays, monographs, reviews, abstracts and details of current
research, etc. Posts are expected to be scholarly, academic, or at
least well thought-out within the frame work of Extropian principles
(see Extropy Number 9 for the latest the Extropian Principles V 2.0.)
Original research is especially welcome. It is very low volume.
Subscriptions can be made by sending a request to:
    [e-mail]

There is now a private exi conf. on the Well. If you are a member
of the Well send mail to habs for entry to the conference. This
conference contains all the posts made tothe essay list. It is also
used for discussing extropian topics. It is just getting off the
ground.



    End quote.  Hope you have a pleasant stay.

        Harry Shapiro
        Manager of the Extropian Mailing List


   [The Extropians mailing list is made possible by the
    generosity of the Free Software Foundation, which is *not*
    responsible for its content.]

 ____ Here are the Extropian Principles version 2.0 _____


THE EXTROPIAN PRINCIPLES V. 2.01 August 7 1992

Max More Executive Director, Extropy Institute

1. BOUNDLESS EXPANSION - Seeking more intelligence, wisdom, and
personal power, an unlimited lifespan, and removal of natural, social,
biological, and psychological limits to self-actualization and
self-realization. Overcoming limits on our personal and social
progress and possibilities. Expansion into the universe and infinite
existence.

2. SELF-TRANSFORMATION - A commitment to continual moral,
intellectual, and physical self-improvement, using reason and critical
thinking, personal responsibility, and experimentation. Biological and
neurological augmentation.

3. INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY - Applying science and technology to
transcend "natural" limits imposed by our biological heritage and
environment.

4. SPONTANEOUS ORDER - Promotion of decentralized, voluntaristic
social coordination mechanisms.  Fostering of tolerance, diversity,
long-term planning, individual incentives and personal liberties.

5. DYNAMIC OPTIMISM - Positive expectations to fuel dynamic action.
Promotion of a positive, empowering attitude towards our individual
future and that of all intelligent beings. Rejection both of blind
faith and stagnant pessimism.

These principles are further explicated below. In depth treatments can
be found in various issues of EXTROPY: The Journal of Transhumanist
Thought. (Spontaneous Order in #7, Dynamic Optimism in #8, and
Self-Transformation in the forthcoming #10.)


1. BOUNDLESS EXPANSION
        Beginning as mindless matter, parts of nature developed in a
slow evolutionary advance which produced progressively more powerful
brains. Chemical reactions generated tropistic behavior, which was
superseded by instinctual and Skinnerian stimulus-response behavior,
and then by conscious learning and experimentation. With the advent of
the conceptual consciousness of humankind, the rate of advancement
sharply accelerated as intelligence, technology, and the scientific
method could be applied to our condition. Extropians seek the
continuation and fostering of this process, transcending biological
and psychological limits as we proceed into posthumanity.
        In aspiring to transhumanity, and beyond to posthumanity, we
reject natural and traditional limitations on our possibilities. We
champion the rational use of science and technology to void limits on
lifespan, intelligence, personal power, freedom, and experience. We
are immortalists because we recognize the absurdity of accepting
"natural" limits to our lives. For many the future will bring an
exodus from Earth - the womb of human and transhuman intelligence -
expanding the frontiers of humanity (and posthumanity) to include
space habitats, other planets and this solar system, neighboring
systems, and beyond. By the end of the 21st Century, more people may
be living off-planet than on Earth
        Resource limits are not immutable. The market price system
encourages conservation, substitution and innovation, preventing any
need for a brake on growth and progress. Expansion into space will
vastly expand the energy and resources for our civilization. Living
extended transhuman lifespans will foster intelligent use of resource
and environment. Extropians affirm a rational, market-mediated
environmentalism aimed at maintaining and enhancing our biospheres
(whether terrestrial or extra-terrestrial). We oppose apocalyptic
environmentalism, which hallucinates catastrophes, issues a stream of
doomsday predictions, and attempts to strangle our continued
evolution.
        No mysteries are sacrosanct, no limits unquestionable; the
unknown must yield to the intelligent mind. We seek to understand and
to master reality up to and beyond any currently foreseen limits.


2. SELF-TRANSFORMATION

        We affirm reason, critical inquiry, intellectual independence,
and intellectual honesty. We reject blind faith and passive,
comfortable thinking that leads to dogmatism, religion, and
conformity. A commitment to positive self-transformation requires us
to critically analyze our current beliefs, behaviors, and strategies.
Extropians therefore choose to place their self-value in continued
development rather than "being right". We prefer analytical thought to
fuzzy but comfortable delusion, empiricism to mysticism, and
independent evaluation to conformity. Extropians affirm a philosophy
of life but distance themselves from religious thinking because of its
blind faith, debasement of human dignity, and systematized
irrationality.
        Perpetual self-improvement - physical, intellectual,
psychological, and ethical - requires us to continually re-examine our
lives. Extropians seek to better themselves, yet without denying their
current worth. The desire to improve should not be confused with the
belief that one is lacking in current value. But valuing oneself in
the present cannot mean self-satisfaction, since an intelligent and
probing mind can can always envisage a superior self in the future.
Extropians are committed to expanding wisdom, fine-tuning
understanding of rational behavior, and enhancing physical and
intellectual capacities.
        Extropians are neophiles and experimentalists. We are
neophiles because we track the latest research for more efficient
means of achieving our goals. We are experimentalists because we are
willing to explore and test the novel means of self-transformation
that we uncover. In our quest for advancement to the tranhuman stage,
we rely on our own judgement, seek our own path, and reject both blind
conformity and mindless rebellion. Extropians frequently diverge from
the mainstream because they do not allow themselves to be chained by
dogmas, whether religious, political, or social. Extropians choose
their values and behavior reflectively, standing firm when required
but responding flexibly to novel conditions.
        Personal responsibility and self-determination goes
hand-in-hand with neophilic self-experimentation. Extropians take
responsibility for the consequences of our choices, refusing to blame
others for the risks involved in our free choices. Experimentation and
self-transformation require risks; Extropians wish to be free to
evaluate the risks and potential benefits for ourselves, applying our
own judgment and wisdom, and assuming responsibility for the outcome.
We neither wish others to force standards upon us through legal
regulation, nor do we wish to force others to follow our path.
Personal-responsibility and self-determination are incompatible with
authoritarian centralized control, which stifles the free choices and
spontaneous ordering of autonomous persons.
        External coercion, whether for the purported "good of the
whole" or the paternalistic protection of the individual, is
unacceptable to us. Compulsion breeds ignorance and weakens the
connection between personal choice and personal outcome, thereby
destroying personal responsibility. The proliferation of outrageous
liability lawsuits, governmental safety regulations, and the
rights-destroying drug war result from ignoring these facts of life.
Extropians are rational individualists, living by their own judgment,
making critical, informed, and free choices, and accepting
responsibility for those choices.
        As neophiles, Extropians study advanced, emerging, and future
technologies for their self-transformative potential in enhancing our
abilities and freedom. We support biomedical research with the goal of
understanding and controlling the aging process. We are interested in
any plausible means of conquering death, including interim measures
like biostasis/cryonics, and long-term possibilities such as migration
out of biological bodies into superior vehicles ("uploading").
        We practice and plan for biological and neurological
augmentation through means such as effective cognitive enhancers or
"smart drugs", computers and electronic networks, General Semantics
and other guides to effective thinking, meditation and visualization
techniques, accelerated learning strategies, and applied cognitive
psychology, and soon neural-computer integration. We do not accept the
limits imposed on us by our natural heritage, instead we apply the
evolutionary gift of our rational, empirical intelligence in order to
surpass human limits and enter the transhuman and posthuman stages of
the future.


3. INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY
        Extropians do not denigrate technology, no matter how
radically different from historical norms, as "unnatural". The term
`natural' is largely devoid of meaning. We might say that any
technological means of altand desirability of science
and technology. Practical means should be used to prommmortality, expanding intelligather than the wishful thinking, ignorant mysticismso common to the New Agers.  Science and technology, as disciplined
forms of intelligence, should be fostered, and we should seek to
employ them in eradicating the limits to our Extropian visions.
        We do not share common cultural fears of technology, such as
those embodied in the story of Frankenstein and the myth of the Tower
of Babel. We favor careful and cautious development of powerful
technologies, but refuse to attempt to stifle development on the basis
of fear of the unknown. Extropians therefore oppose the anti-human
"Back to the Pleistocene", anti-civilization rhetoric of the extreme
environmentalists. Going backwards means death for billions and
stagnation and oppression for the rest. Intelligent use of
biotechnology, nanotechnology, space and other technologies, in
conjunction with a market system, can remove resource constraints and
discharge environmental pressures.
        We see technological development not as an end in itself, but
as a means to the achievement and development of our values, ideals
and visions. We seek to employ science and technology to remove limits
to growth, and to radically transform both the internal and external
conditions of existence.
        We see the coming years and decades as being a time of
enormous changes, changes which will vastly expand our opportunities,
our freedom, and our abilities. Genetic engineering, interventive
gerontology (life extension), space migration, smart drugs, more
powerful computers and smarter programming, neural-computer
interfaces, virtual reality, swift electronic communications,
artificial intelligence, neural networks, artificial life,
neuroscience, and nanotechnology will contribute to accelerating
change.


4. SPONTANEOUS ORDER
        Spontaneous orders are self-generating, organic orders and
differ from constructed, centrally directed orders. Both types of
order have their place, but spontaneous orders are vital in our social
interactions. Spontaneous orders have properties that make them
especially conducive to Extropian goals and values and spontaneous
ordering processes can be found at work in many fields. The evolution
of complex biological forms is one example; others include the
adjustment of ecosystems, artificial life demonstrations, memetics
(the study of replicating information patterns), computational markets
(agoric open systems), brain function and neurocomputation,
        The principle of spontaneous order is embodied in the free
market system - a system that does not yet exist in a pure form. The
free market allows complex institutions to develop, encourages
innovation, rewards individual initiative and reinforces personal
responsibility, fosters diversity, and safeguards political freedom.
Market economies ensure the technological and social progress
essential to the Extropian philosophy. We reject the technocratic idea
of central control by self-proclaimed experts. No group of experts can
understand and control the endless complexity of an economy and
society. Expert knowledge is best harnessed and transmitted through
the superbly efficient mediation of the free market's price signals -
signals that embody more information than any person or group could
ever gather.
        Sustained progress and intelligent, rational decision-making
requires the diverse sources of information and differing perspectives
made possible by spontaneous orders. Central direction constrains
exploration, diversity, freedom, and dissenting opinion. Respecting
spontaneous order means supporting voluntaristic, autonomy-maximizing
institutions as opposed to rigidly hierarchical, authoritarian
groupings with their bureaucratic structure, suppression of innovation
and diversity, and smothering of individual incentives. Understanding
spontaneous orders makes us highly suspicious of "authorities" where
these are imposed on us, and skeptical of coercive leaders,
unquestioning obedience, and unexamined traditions.
        Making effective use of a spontaneously ordering social system
requires us to be tolerant and peaceful, allowing others to pursue
their lives as they see fit, just as we expect to be left to follow
our own paths. We can best achieve mutual progress by interacting
cooperatively and benevolently toward all who do not threaten our
lives, and by supporting diversity of opinion and behavior. Respecting
diversity and disagreement requires us to maintain control of our
impulses and to uphold high standards of rational personal behavior.
Extropians are guided in their actions by studying the fields of
strategy, decision theory and game theory. These make clear to us the
benefits of cooperation and encourage the long-term thinking
appropriate to persons seeking an unlimited lifespan.



5. DYNAMIC OPTIMISM
        We espouse a positive, dynamic, empowering attitude. To
successfully pursue our values and live our lives we must reject
gloom, defeatism, and the common cultural focus on negatives. Problems
- technical, social, psychological, ecological - should be
acknowledged but not allowed to dominate our thinking and our
direction. We respond to gloom and nay-saying by exploration and
promotion of new possibilities. Extropians hold to both short and
long-term optimism: In the short term we can cultivate our lives and
enhance ourselves; in the long term the positive potentials for
intelligent beings are virtually limitless.
        We question limits that others take for granted. We look at
the acceleration in scientific and technical knowledge, ascending
standards of living, and social and moral evolution and project
further advances. More researchers today than in all past history
strive to understand aging, control disease, upgrade computers, and
develop biotechnology and nanotechnology. Technological and social
evolution continue to accelerate, leading, some of us expect, to a
Singularity - a future time when many of the rules of life will so
radically diverge from those familiar to us, and progress will be so
rapid, that we cannot now comprehend that time.  Extropians will
maintain the acceleration of progress and encourage it in beneficial
directions.
        Adopting dynamic optimism means focusing on possibilities and
opportunities, and being alert to solutions and potentialities. And it
means refusing to whine about what cannot be avoided, learning from
mistakes rather than dwelling on them in a victimizing, punishing
manner. Dynamic optimism requires us to take the initiative, to jump
up and plough into our difficulties with an attitude that says we can
achieve our goals, rather than to sit back and immerse ourselves in
defeatist thinking.
        Dynamic optimism is not compatible with passive faith. Faith
in a better future is confidence that an external force, whether God,
State or society, will solve our problems. Faith, or the Polyanna/Dr.
Pangloss variety of optimism, breeds passivity by encouraging the
belief that progress will be effected by others. Faith requires a
determined belief in external forces and so encourages dogmatism and
irrational rigidity of belief and behavior. Dynamic optimism fosters
activity and intelligence, telling us that we are capable of improving
life through our own efforts. Opportunities and possibilities are
everywhere, waiting for us to seize them and create new ones. To
achieve our goals, we must believe in ourselves, work hard, and be
open to revise our strategies.
        Where others see difficulties, we see challenges. Where others
give up, we move forward. Where others say enough is enough, we say:
Forward! Upward! Outward! We espouse personal, social, and
technological evolution into ever higher forms. Extropians see too far
and change too rapidly to feel future shock. Let us advance the wave
of evolutionary progress.


        Extropianism is a transhumanist philosophy: Like humanism it
values reason and sees no ground for believing in supernatural
external forces controlling our destiny. But transhumanism goes
further in calling us to push beyond the simply human stage of
evolution. As physicist Freeman Dyson said: "Humanity looks to me like
a magnificent beginning but not the final word." Religion has
traditionally provided a sense of meaning and purpose in life, but it
also suppressed intelligence and stifled progress. The Extropian
philosophy provides an inspiring and uplifting meaning and direction
to our individual and social existence, while remaining flexible and
firmly founded in science, reason, and the boundless search for
improvement.

READINGS
        These books are listed because they embody Extropian ideas.
However, appearance on this list should not be taken to imply full
agreement of the author with the Extropian Principles, or vice versa.


Harry Browne:           How I Found Freedom in An Unfree World
Paul M. Churchland:     Matter and Consciousness
Paul M. Churchland:     A Neurocomputational Perspective
Mike Darwin &
Brian Wowk:             Cryonics: Reaching For Tomorrow
Richard Dawkins:        The Selfish Gene
Ward Dean and
John Morgenthaler:      Smart Drugs and Nutrients
Freeman Dyson:          Infinite in all Directions
Eric Drexler:           Engines of Creation
Eric Drexler, C. Peterson
with Gayle Pergamit:    Unbounding the Future: The Nanotechnology Revolution
Robert Ettinger:        The Prospect of Immortality
                        Man Into Superman
F.M. Esfandiary:        Optimism One
                        Up-Wingers
                        Telespheres
FM-2030:                Are You A Transhuman?
Grant Fjermedal:        The Tomorrow Makers
David Friedman:         The Machinery of Freedom
David Gauthier:         Morals By Agreement
Alan Harrington:        The Immortalist
Timothy Leary:          Info-Psychology
J.L. Mackie:            The Miracle of Theism
Hans Moravec:           Mind Children: The Future of Human and
                        Robotic Intelligence
Jan Narveson:           The Libertarian Idea
Jerry Pournelle:        A Step Farther Out
Ilya Prigogine and
Isabelle Stengers:      Order Out of Chaos
W. Duncan Reekie:       Markets, Entrenpreneurs and Liberty
Ed Regis:               Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition

Albert Rosenfeld:       Prolongevity II
Julian Simon:           The Ultimate Resource
Julian Simon and
Herman Kahn (eds):      The Resourceful Earth
Alvin Toffler:          Powershift
Robert Anton Wilson:    Prometheus Rising
                        The New Inquisition
Fiction:
Roger MacBride Allen:   The Modular Man
Robert Heinlein:        Methusaleh's Children
                        Time Enough for Love
James P. Hogan:         Voyage To Yesteryear
Charles Platt:          The Silicon Man
Ayn Rand:               Atlas Shrugged
Robert Shea and
Robert Anton Wilson:    Illuminatus! (3 vols.)
L. Neil Smith:          The Probability Breach
Bruce Sterling:                 Schizmatrix
Marc Stiegler:          The Gentle Seduction.
Vernor Vinge:           True Names
                        "The Ungoverned" in True Names... and Other Dangers

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