RET
Newsletter
May 2008
"A
Skeptical Look at the FairTax"
May 4,
2008 10:30 am - 12:30 p
Pellissippi
State
Dave
Buck will be the discussion leader.
"A
skeptical look at the FairTax"
(Is it
all its cracked up to be? Is it better or worse than the
current
tax structure?)
The
FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal
income
and payroll-based taxes with an integrated approach including:
* A
progressive national retail sales tax,
* A
prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to
the
poverty
level,
*
Dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and
*
Repeal of the 16th Amendment through companion legislation.
__________________________________________________________________________
Children's
Program
May 4,
2008
Pellissippi
State
Lesson
Leader: Mleeka Learn Houston
Topic:
Perseverance
Stories:
The Very Quiet Cricket and The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
Activity:
Insect craft
__________________________________________________________________________
Book
Club
May
11, 2008 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Barnes
And Noble
Science,
Evolution, and Creationism (Paperback)
Author:
National Academy of Sciences Steering Committee on Science &
Creation
Lee
Erickson will lead the discussion.
__________________________________________________________________________
"Resource
Depletion on Planet Earth"
May
18, 2008 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Pellissippi
State
Chuck
Omarzu will lead the program.
__________________________________________________________________________
Future
Book Club Books Selected (not in order)
Squandering
of America
Good
Business
Deer
Hunting with Jesus
The
End of America
Anti-Intellectualism
in America
__________________________________________________________________________
Southern
Baptists Loosing Ground
Baptisms
are down to lowest level since 1987. Membership has dropped
by
40,000. Now there are only 16,266,920 of them to deal with.
The
reduced numbers are a God send says (a fictional) Baptist
minister.
"The congestion that the Rapture will bring will be reduced.
There
should be a significantly reduced chance of accidents in the
mass
assention. The number of members is down while the number of
churches
is up. This should also help, with the membership more spread
out
there should fewer collisions on the way to heaven. In addition,
since
almost everyone is white the likelihood of immigration
challenges
of any consequence should be limited."
__________________________________________________________________________
Transhumanism
- A different view
At the
last Round Table Meeting I had a vision as RET members sat
around
laughing at the "crazy" ideas of some transhumanists.
I
pictured a group of Medieval monks sitting around listening to
someone
talk about the following:
1.
Sometime people will walk on the moon.
2.
There are many planets beyond the seven we know. And by the way
there
are many billions of stars in big groups so far away that all we
see is
what they looked like billions of years ago.
3. The
plague is caused by tiny little creatures that live on fleas.
4.People
will be able to use others hearts, kidneys, livers and parts
of
eyes. They will be able to do this without the intervention of
Satanic
powers. Some people will even give their kidneys away.
5. You
will be able to talk to people in North America instantly any
time
of the day or night and even people on the moon, after just a few
seconds.
(North America? You are really making things up now.)
6.You
will be able to fly all the way around the world in just a few
hours,
unless you are in space and then it will be much faster. (What
do you
mean 'around' the world and what is space?)
7.
People will be able to point a little box at you and capture
everything
you and those around you do, then show it back to you in
miniature.
8. A
hundred thousand other things .....
Ha,
ha, ha what a nut you are. That is just fantasy they all laugh as
they
go back to their cold, unlighted rooms.
There
were many points not covered in the entertaining presentation
last
month. One major one is that there are many possibilities
unfolding
as we advance scientifically and technologically. What are
they
going to be and what are the consequences of this progress? (Of
course
Michael's assumption is that there is no real progress or
direction
of progress at least.)
In the
past we humans have just gone with the flow of change and taken
what
ever it dumped in our laps. Many Transhumanist are concerned
about
this lack of responsibility and consideration of consequences.
The
following is just a glimpse of that thought.
The
World transhumanist Association has become the principal
organization
for transhumanism. Nick Bostrom is a key spokesman and
thinker
in this field. I will provide a few quotes to help clarify
what
transhumanism is considering. They are from
www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html
.
"Transhumanism
is a loosely defined movement that has developed
gradually
over the past two decades.[1] It promotes an
interdisciplinary
approach to understanding and evaluating the
opportunities
for enhancing the human condition and the human organism
opened
up by the advancement of technology. Attention is given to both
present
technologies, like genetic engineering and information
technology,
and anticipated future ones, such as molecular
nanotechnology
and artificial intelligence."
"Transhumanism
does not entail technological optimism. While future
technological
capabilities carry immense potential for beneficial
deployments,
they also could be misused to cause enormous harm,
ranging
all the way to the extreme possibility of intelligent life
becoming
extinct. Other potential negative outcomes include widening
social
inequalities or a gradual erosion of the hard-to-quantify
assets
that we care deeply about but tend to neglect in our daily
struggle
for material gain, such as meaningful human relationships and
ecological
diversity. Such risks must be taken very seriously, as
thoughtful
transhumanists fully acknowledge."
"Further,
our human brains may cap our ability to discover
philosophical
and scientific truths. It is possible that failure of
philosophical
research to arrive at solid, generally accepted answers
to
many of the traditional big philosophical questions could be due to
the
fact that we are not smart enough to be successful in this kind of
enquiry.
Our cognitive limitations may be confining us in a Platonic
cave,
where the best we can do is theorize about ÒshadowsÓ, that is,
representations
that are sufficiently oversimplified and dumbed-down
to fit
inside a human brain."
"What
is needed for the realization of the transhumanist dream is that
technological
means necessary for venturing into the posthuman space
are
made available to those who wish to use them, and that society be
organized
in such a manner that such explorations can be undertaken
without
causing unacceptable damage to the social fabric and without
imposing
unacceptable existential risks."
"Given
the limitations of our current wisdom, a certain epistemic
tentativeness
is appropriate, along with a readiness to continually
reassess
our assumptions as more information becomes available. We
cannot
take for granted that our old habits and beliefs will prove
adequate
in navigating our new circumstances."
All I
can say is that at least there are some who are actually trying
to get
a grip on what the future may hold and how we can do to more
actively
control what future changes may bring. Futurist projections
are,
of course, risky. They tend to be overly optimistic with respect
to
time required to make changes. A new discovery may make many
projections
impossible or highly improbable. And, often what actually
occurs
is even more fantastic than the futurists' predictions. Future
discoveries/inventions
are always much messier and complicated than
predictions
suggest. Nonetheless, science fiction writers have
predicted
many thingss that have happened. Many ideas are developed
because
someone had the idea and it presented a challenge to others to
see if
they could do it.
If you
don't like the transhumanist vision you should try to come up
with
one of your own that also analyzes the impact of rapidly
advancing
technology. At least they have a vision that doesn't assume
a
static world. A world that just drifts along without a thoughtful/
rational
collective attempt to have a future in which we have some
control
and hope for improvement.
The
Wikipedia article on Transhumanism states: "A 2002 report,
Converging
Technologies for Improving Human Performance, commissioned
by the
NationalScience Foundation and US Department of Commerce,
contains
descriptions and commentaries on the state of NBIS science
and
technology by major contributors
to these fields. The report
discussed
potential uses of these technologies in implementing
transhumanist
goals of enhanced performance and health, and ongoing
work
on planned applications of human enhancement technologies in the
military
and in the rationalization of the human-machine interface in
industry."
Its
coming in some form whether you want to accept it or not.
A
final note: In response to claims that transhumanism was a religion,
"Religious
critics alone faulted the philosophy of transhumanism as
offering
no eternal truths nor a relationship with the divine. They
commented
that a philosophy bereft of these beliefs leaves humanity
adrift
in a foggy sea of postmodern cynicism and anomie.
Transhumanists
responded that such criticisms reflect a failure to
look
at the actual content of the transhumanist philosophy, which far
from
being cynical, is rooted in optimistic, idealistic attitudes that
trace
back to the Enlightenment.[56] Following this dialogue, William
Sims
Bainbridge conducted a pilot study, published in the Journal of
Evolution
and Technology, suggesting that religious attitudes were
negatively
correlated with acceptance of transhumanist ideas, and
indicating
that individuals with highly religious worldviews tended to
perceive
transhumanism as being a direct, competitive (though
ultimately
futile) affront to their spiritual beliefs." (wikipedia/
transhumanism)
There
is much more that can be said about this complicated and diverse
movement.
Time and energy don't allow that depth here, but just notice
that
the problems being considered by the transhumanists are not a
laughing
matter.
__________________________________________________________________________
Articles
by Carl Ledendecker
__________________________________________________________________________
RET
Newsletter submissions
Feel
free to submit news or opinions of interest. Submissions are
welcomed
but may be limited by space and topic relevance. The format
may
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submissions
are preferred but longer ones may be accepted if they can
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published as a series over two or more issues. Text or Word format
are
best for submission. Text may also be included in an E-mail.
Carl
Ledendecker at: (ledendecker@earthlink.net) 2123
Stonybrook
Rd., Louisville, TN 37777
982-8687 evenings
The
Newsletter can also be found online at our Web site: www.rationalists.org
.
Scheduling: Philosophy (Michael Lance) lancem@ornl.gov; Round
tables
(Carl Westman) cawestman@bellsouth.net; Book Club (John
McCaffrey)
jkmccaffreytn@yahoo.com Newsletter: (Carl Ledendecker) ledendecker@earthlink.net
,
982-8687
Material
published in The RET Newsletter represents the views of the
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authors. Publication does not
constitute an endorsement by
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Rationalists of East Tennessee or its members.