X-Message-Number: 20638 From: "Mark Plus" <> Subject: Beating on the science-versus-religion hornets' nest. Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:09:44 -0800 Here are a couple of articles likely to interest cryonicists: An interview with evolutionary biologist and former Dominican priest Francisco Ayala, who teaches at the University of California at Irvine, about the religious implications of new biotechnologies: http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=16327§ion=NEWS&year=2002&month=12&day=16 And an article by Canadian Transhumanist/democratic socialist George Dvorsky about "Ending Biblical Brainwash": http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Transitory_Human/column.aspx?articleID=2002-12-15-2 For the record, I'm not sympathetic with the explicit democratic socialist outlook of Betterhumans.com and the affiliated World Transhumanist Association. One, there's no money in socialism. Two, after dealing with the public for a good deal of my life, I'm not impressed by the judgment of the typical person you're likely to meet on the street. I'm glad the U.S. has a de facto restricted franchise, and I shudder to think what might happen if we did have a real "democracy" in this country. Three, I can see a real conflict between democratic political processes and the desires of some self-professed Transhumanists who delusionally think they set the agenda for an effective mass movement. There aren't enough Transhumanists worldwide to fill the auditorium of a typical high school, much less enough ones strategically placed to shape the course of American politics. What are they going to do when their beloved democratic political process ignorantly and short-sightedly in effect sentences them to death by banning certain technologies? A long time ago I decided that I wasn't going to let psychological scarecrows like laws and contingent cultural beliefs interfere with what I have to do stay alive, provided that I can find ways around them. Socialist Transhumanists seem really naive about the nature of the problem we're facing if they think they can "persuade" the dullard hominids out there to see things their way. Mark Plus It's not "religious" or "science fictional" if you can do it. _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20638