From: Ben Goertzel (ben@intelligenesis.net)
Date: Mon Nov 13 2000 - 22:22:18 MST
Actually, the very MONEY that you don't want to give him, is a product of
the
very GOVERNMENT that you're complaining about.... Your wealth does not
exist
independently of the state, which punishes counterfeiters, regulates banks,
and
so forth.... So the "separateness" that you posit is partially
fallacious...
ben
> So why should a government force me to pay this bum against my will? With
> the government out of the equation, the bum and I are two
> separate entities
> who may or may not have a significant interaction...a mutually acceptable
> position; but with the government involved, I am indirectly forced to put
> my money into the bum's palm through taxation etc. Now why in the world
> should two separate people who have carved their own paths be forced to
> interact? I truly owe the bum nothing, and I don't expect him to owe me
> anything either.
>
> In regards to Ben's claim about the libertarian feel to some Extropian
> texts, I will admit that many have presumed the same thing. Would I were
> an American, I would *personally* have voted for Browne, but there is no
> actual political affiliation between Extropianism and libertarianism. In
> the Self Direction and Open Society principles, there are some general
> statements about how authoritarian regimes are not beneficial to progress,
> but this is based on fact. Otherwise, politics are pretty much peripheral
> to what Extropianism is all about. Leave the specifics up to individuals.
>
>
> _____________________________________________________________
> E. Shaun Russell Operations Officer, Extropy Institute
> e_shaun@extropy.org http://www.extropy.org
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> "Yesterday we created the present; today, we're inventing our
> future. Kineticize your potential."
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jul 17 2013 - 04:00:35 MDT