>
>I'm pretty Extropian myself. I just hate to see such ideas used to
>defend
>a "What me worry?" attitude. Infinite growth is certianly possible in
>principle, and I think achieveable in reality...but it is not
>inevitable.
I think we're in aggreement here.
>Depending on these technologies to bail us out of problems is more
>risky
>that counting on social security.
Again, I concur. Notice I qualified my optimism by saying that I do
think it is important to use the knowledge and the resources currently at
our disposal to the best of our abilities.
>The idea that technological
>development
>will solve all our problems places a unreasonable amount of emphasis
>on
>scientists and engineers.
They're well compensated for it. I know many scientists and engineers
may not think they're fairly compensated for the services they render,
but when you compare the pressure endurred to monetary return on being an
engineer to that of a police officer or air traffic controller, the
scientists and engineers seem to be doing all right.
Maybe I missed your point. Maybe you weren't so much concerned for the
scientists and engineers as you were warning us against over -reliance on
the services of the high priests of science and their accolates.
> Is it any wonder that people are consulting
>astrologers again? We're pretty damn good, and we do pull of the
>occasional miracle...but we can't do it on demand.
When you say "we" I hope you're identifying yourself as a memeber of the
science and technology crowd and not as an astrologer. Astrology is
simple enough to get one's mind around without much difficulty, and so it
appeals to our need for complete mental models. At the same time there
is enough complexity in astrological systems to keep people interested
and to give them the feeling that they've accomplished something by
amassing compendious knowledge of astrological minutia. Is my
contempt... er... I mean 'bias' showing through? I hope everyone on this
list sees fortune-tellers, palm-reader, and telephone psychics as the
enemy.
Reed, I hope you realize that none of my venom is directed your way. You
have a sharp mind and you inject excellent memes into this forum with
your posts.
Take care, all. -KMO