Re: META: Sept. 11 and Singularity

From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Thu Sep 12 2002 - 16:24:17 MDT


Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> Ben Goertzel wrote:
>
> > But, I know that if I want to impose my own standards on a list, I can
> > start my own list, and I don't want to take the time...
>
> And yet for some reason you are subscribed to SL4 and not wta-talk,
> Extropians, or any of the other lists out there. Perhaps you believe my
> sniper style of moderation has nothing to do with this and interferes
> with the better list SL4 would otherwise be; just as conscientous
> objectors may genuinely believe that the world would be a better place
> if their country's militaries disbanded, and the soldiers of those
> countries may respect the concept of satyagraha even if they cannot
> believe in it personally. I guess the moral is that it doesn't hurt if
> some people are conscientous objectors in the war on idiocy, and it may
> even be a good thing, as long as someone is still actually defending the
> borders.
>


Frankly, I think you have a lot to learn about people and
working well with them. You are shooting from the hip in my
opinion before you have even bothered to fully understand. That
does not make this a better list. The attitude of defending the
borders assumes you have everything good already inside the
borders and that those things that don't meet your current
conceptions are automatically bad or dangerous. It assumes the
list is too fragile to take a bit of time and effort to know a
new person and to see if they can be incorporated gracefully and
to mutual benefit. It doesn't leave enough room for growth on
either side or even admit the possibility.

- samantha







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