20 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Explosion of Sub-Cults
The techno-societies, far from being drab and homogenized, are honeycombed with just
such colorful groupings—hippies and hot rodders, theosophists and flying saucer fans, skindivers
and skydivers, homosexuals, computerniks, vegetarians, bodybuilders and Black
Muslims.
Today the hammerblows of the super-industrial revolution are literally splintering the
society. We are multiplying these social enclaves, tribes and minicults among us almost as
fast as we are multiplying automotive options. ... 1 
notes
notesWe can see this phenomenon in online cultures, but I like how this passage ties it into the issue of personal identity. The cults/fandoms we choose are also a choice about how we are defining ourselves.
13 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
Public Policy Shouldn't Bet on Science
You ask whether, given a choice, I would put more resources into space or AI. My answer is that either choice would be stupid. Politicians always want to make such choices too soon, because they imagine they can pick winners. Usually they pick losers. The only way to improve the chances for finding winners is to keep all the choices open and try them all. That is particularly true for space and AI, which are not really competing with each other. They are done by different kinds of people in d...
1 It will always bet wrong. All science should be open, free, and supported.
10 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Witches Own Nothing
“Well, that seems kinda precipitate. Seems to me a man should have a choice whether to take up arms or not.”
“We have no more choice in that than in whether or not to be born.”
“Oh, I like choice, though,” he said. “I like choosing the jobs I take and the places I go and the food I eat and the companions I sit and yarn with. Don’t you wish for a choice once in a while ?”
Serafina Pekkala considered, and then said, “Perhaps we don’t mean the same thing by choice, Mr. S...Folksonomies: immortality materialism
Folksonomies: immortality materialism
1 notes
notesTherefore cost does not factor into their reasoning, because they live long enough to know that every opportunity comes around again.
08 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
Property Equals Freedom
Under modern conditions%u2014indeed, under any conditions%u2014a man without some negotiable property is a man without freedom, and the extent of his property is very largely the measure of his freedom. Without any property, without even shelter or food, a man has no choice but to set about getting these things; he is in servitude to his needs until he has secured property to satisfy them. But with a certain small property a man is free to do many things, to take a fortnight's holiday when he...Folksonomies: centrism
Folksonomies: centrism
The more property a person has, the more freedom they have with it, but there is a point where their amassing of property infringes on the rights of others.
