From: sulkom@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Mark Sulkowski)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.xtropy-l
Subject: Extropian Principles V. 2.01 by Max More
Date: 2 Oct 92 21:13:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

THE EXTROPIAN PRINCIPLES V. 2.01 August 7 1992

Max More, Executive Director, Extropy Institute

1. BOUNDLESS EXPANSION - Seeking more intelligence, wisdom, and personal
power,   an   unlimited   lifespan,  and  removal  of  natural,  social,
biological,  and  psychological   limits   to   self-actualization   and
self-realization.  Overcoming limits on our personal and social progress
and possibilities.  Expansion into the universe and infinite existence.

2. SELF-TRANSFORMATION - A commitment to continual moral,  intellectual,
and  physical  self-improvement,  using  reason  and  critical thinking,
personal   responsibility,   and   experimentation.    Biological    and
neurological augmentation.

3. INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY - Applying science and technology to transcend
"natural" limits imposed by our biological heritage and environment.

4. SPONTANEOUS ORDER - Promotion of decentralized, voluntaristic  social
coordination  mechanisms.   Fostering of tolerance, diversity, long-term
planning, individual incentives and personal liberties.

5. DYNAMIC OPTIMISM - Positive  expectations  to  fuel  dynamic  action.
Promotion  of  a  positive,  empowering  attitude towards our individual
future and that of all intelligent  beings.   Rejection  both  of  blind
faith and stagnant pessimism.

These principles are further explicated below.  In depth treatments  can
be  found  in  various  issues of EXTROPY:  The Journal of Transhumanist
Thought.   (Spontaneous  Order  in  #7,  Dynamic  Optimism  in  #8,  and
Self-Transformation in the forthcoming #10.)


1. BOUNDLESS EXPANSION

     Beginning as mindless matter, parts of nature developed in  a  slow
evolutionary  advance which produced progressively more powerful brains.
Chemical reactions generated tropistic behavior, which was superseded by
instinctual  and  Skinnerian  stimulus-response  behavior,  and  then by
conscious  learning  and  experimentation.   With  the  advent  of   the
conceptual  consciousness  of humankind, the rate of advancement sharply
accelerated as intelligence, technology, and the scientific method could
be  applied  to  our  condition.   Extropians  seek the continuation and
fostering of this process,  transcending  biological  and  psychological
limits as we proceed into posthumanity.

     In aspiring to transhumanity, and beyond to posthumanity, we reject
natural  and  traditional limitations on our possibilities.  We champion
the rational use of science and technology to void limits  on  lifespan,
intelligence,   personal   power,   freedom,  and  experience.   We  are
immortalists because we recognize the absurdity of  accepting  "natural"
limits  to  our  lives.   For  many the future will bring an exodus from
Earth - the womb of human and transhuman intelligence  -  expanding  the
frontiers  of  humanity  (and  post-humanity) to include space habitats,
other planets and this solar system, neighboring  systems,  and  beyond.
By  the  end  of  the 21st Century, more people may be living off-planet
than on Earth.

     Resource  limits  are  not  immutable.   The  market  price  system
encourages  conservation,  substitution  and  innovation, preventing any
need for a brake on growth and  progress.   Expansion  into  space  will
vastly  expand  the  energy  and resources for our civilization.  Living
extended transhuman lifespans will foster intelligent use  of  resources
and   environment.    Extropians   affirm  a  rational,  market-mediated
environmentalism aimed  at  maintaining  and  enhancing  our  biospheres
(whether  terrestrial  or  extra-terrestrial).   We  oppose  apocalyptic
environmentalism, which hallucinates catastrophes, issues  a  stream  of
doomsday predictions, and attempts to strangle our continued evolution.

     No mysteries are sacrosanct, no limits unquestionable; the  unknown
must yield to the intelligent mind.  We seek to understand and to master
reality up to and beyond any currently foreseen limits.


2. SELF-TRANSFORMATION

     We affirm reason, critical inquiry, intellectual independence,  and
intellectual  honesty.   We  reject blind faith and passive, comfortable
thinking  that  leads  to  dogmatism,  religion,  and   conformity.    A
commitment  to  positive  self-transformation  requires us to critically
analyze our current  beliefs,  behaviors,  and  strategies.   Extropians
therefore  choose  to  place  their  self-value in continued development
rather than "being right".  We prefer analytical thought  to  fuzzy  but
comfortable   delusion,   empiricism   to   mysticism,  and  independent
evaluation to conformity.  Extropians affirm a philosophy  of  life  but
distance  themselves from religious thinking because of its blind faith,
debasement of human dignity, and systematized irrationality.

     Perpetual self-improvement - physical, intellectual, psychological,
and   ethical  -  requires  us  to  continually  re-examine  our  lives.
Extropians seek to better themselves, yet without denying their  current
worth.   The  desire  to  improve should not be confused with the belief
that one is lacking in  current  value.   But  valuing  oneself  in  the
present  cannot mean self-satisfaction, since an intelligent and probing
mind can can always envisage a superior self in the future.   Extropians
are committed to expanding wisdom, fine-tuning understanding of rational
behavior, and enhancing physical and intellectual capacities.

     Extropians are neophiles and experimentalists.   We  are  neophiles
because  we  track  the  latest  research  for  more  efficient means of
achieving our goals.  We are experimentalists because we are willing  to
explore and test the novel means of self-transformation that we uncover.
In our quest for advancement to the transhuman stage, we rely on our own
judgment,  seek  our  own  path,  and  reject  both blind conformity and
mindless rebellion.  Extropians frequently diverge from  the  mainstream
because  they  do  not allow themselves to be chained by dogmas, whether
religious, political, or social.  Extropians  choose  their  values  and
behavior  reflectively,  standing  firm  when  required  but  responding
flexibly to novel conditions.

     Personal responsibility and  self-determination  goes  hand-in-hand
with neophilic self-experimentation.  Extropians take responsibility for
the consequences of our choices, refusing to blame others for the  risks
involved  in  our free choices.  Experimentation and self-transformation
require risks; Extropians wish to be free  to  evaluate  the  risks  and
potential  benefits for ourselves, applying our own judgment and wisdom,
and assuming responsibility for the outcome.  We neither wish others  to
force  standards  upon  us  through  legal regulation, nor do we wish to
force  others  to  follow   our   path.    Personal-responsibility   and
self-determination   are  incompatible  with  authoritarian  centralized
control, which stifles the free  choices  and  spontaneous  ordering  of
autonomous persons.

     External coercion, whether for the purported "good of the whole" or
the  paternalistic  protection of the individual, is unacceptable to us.
Compulsion breeds ignorance and weakens the connection between  personal
choice and personal outcome, thereby destroying personal responsibility.
The proliferation of outrageous liability lawsuits, governmental  safety
regulations,  and  the  rights-destroying  drug war result from ignoring
these facts of life.  Extropians are rational individualists, living  by
their  own  judgment,  making  critical, informed, and free choices, and
accepting responsibility for those choices.

     As neophiles,  Extropians  study  advanced,  emerging,  and  future
technologies  for  their  self-transformative potential in enhancing our
abilities and freedom.  We support biomedical research with the goal  of
understanding  and  controlling the aging process.  We are interested in
any plausible means of conquering death, including interim measures like
biostasis/cryonics, and long-term possibilities such as migration out of
biological bodies into superior vehicles ("uploading").

     We practice and plan for biological and  neurological  augmentation
through  means  such  as effective cognitive enhancers or "smart drugs",
computers and electronic networks, General Semantics and other guides to
effective thinking, meditation and visualization techniques, accelerated
learning  strategies,  and  applied  cognitive  psychology,   and   soon
neural-computer  integration.  We do not accept the limits imposed on us
by our natural heritage, instead we apply the evolutionary gift  of  our
rational,  empirical  intelligence  in order to surpass human limits and
enter the transhuman and posthuman stages of the future.


3. INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY

     Extropians do not denigrate technology,  no  matter  how  radically
different  from historical norms, as "unnatural".  The term `natural' is
largely devoid of meaning.  We might say that any technological means of
altering the environment or the human body is unnatural since it changes
the previously existing state of nature.   But  we  can  also  say  that
applying  our  intelligence through technology is natural to humans, and
so changing both outside nature and our own  biological  nature  can  be
regarded as natural.

     Extropians affirm the necessity and  desirability  of  science  and
technology.   Practical  means  should  be  used to promote our goals of
immortality, expanding intelligence,  and  greater  physical  abilities,
rather  than the wishful thinking, ignorant mysticism, and credulity, so
common to the New Agers.  Science and technology, as  disciplined  forms
of  intelligence,  should be fostered, and we should seek to employ them
in eradicating the limits to our Extropian visions.

     We do not share common cultural fears of technology, such as  those
embodied  in  the  story  of  Frankenstein  and the myth of the Tower of
Babel.   We  favor  careful  and  cautious   development   of   powerful
technologies,  but  refuse to attempt to stifle development on the basis
of fear of the unknown.   Extropians  therefore  oppose  the  anti-human
"Back  to  the  Pleistocene",  anti-civilization rhetoric of the extreme
environmentalists.   Going  backwards  means  death  for  billions   and
stagnation   and   oppression   for   the   rest.   Intelligent  use  of
biotechnology,  nanotechnology,  space  and   other   technologies,   in
conjunction  with  a  market system, can remove resource constraints and
discharge environmental pressures.

     We see technological development not as an end in itself, but as  a
means  to  the  achievement  and  development  of our values, ideals and
visions.  We seek to employ science and technology to remove  limits  to
growth,  and  to  radically  transform  both  the  internal and external
conditions of existence.

     We see the coming years and decades as being  a  time  of  enormous
changes,  changes  which  will  vastly  expand  our  opportunities,  our
freedom,  and  our  abilities.   Genetic   engineering,   interventative
gerontology   (life  extension),  space  migration,  smart  drugs,  more
powerful computers and smarter programming, neural-computer  interfaces,
virtual    reality,    swift   electronic   communications,   artificial
intelligence,  neural  networks,  artificial  life,  neuroscience,   and
nanotechnology will contribute to accelerating change.


4. SPONTANEOUS ORDER

     Spontaneous orders are self-generating, organic orders  and  differ
from  constructed,  centrally directed orders.  Both types of order have
their  place,  but  spontaneous  orders  are   vital   in   our   social
interactions.    Spontaneous  orders  have  properties  that  make  them
especially conducive to  Extropian  goals  and  values  and  spontaneous
ordering  processes  can be found at work in many fields.  The evolution
of  complex  biological  forms  is  one  example;  others  include   the
adjustment  of ecosystems, artificial life demonstrations, memetics (the
study  of  replicating  information  patterns),  computational   markets
(agoric open systems), brain function and neurocomputation.

     The principle of spontaneous order is embodied in the  free  market
system  -  a  system  that  does not yet exist in a pure form.  The free
market allows complex institutions to  develop,  encourages  innovation,
rewards  individual  initiative  and reinforces personal responsibility,
fosters diversity, and safeguards political freedom.   Market  economies
ensure  the technological and social progress essential to the Extropian
philosophy.  We reject the  technocratic  idea  of  central  control  by
self-proclaimed experts.  No group of experts can understand and control
the endless complexity of an economy and society.  Expert  knowledge  is
best  harnessed and transmitted through the superbly efficient mediation
of  the  free  market's  price  signals  -  signals  that  embody   more
information than any person or group could ever gather.

     Sustained  progress  and  intelligent,   rational   decision-making
requires  the  diverse sources of information and differing perspectives
made possible  by  spontaneous  orders.   Central  direction  constrains
exploration,  diversity,  freedom,  and  dissenting opinion.  Respecting
spontaneous order means  supporting  voluntaristic,  autonomy-maximizing
institutions as opposed to rigidly hierarchical, authoritarian groupings
with  their  bureaucratic  structure,  suppression  of  innovation   and
diversity,  and  smothering  of  individual  incentives.   Understanding
spontaneous orders makes us highly  suspicious  of  "authorities"  where
these   are   imposed   on   us,  and  skeptical  of  coercive  leaders,
unquestioning obedience, and unexamined traditions.

     Making effective use of  a  spontaneously  ordering  social  system
requires us to be tolerant and peaceful, allowing others to pursue their
lives as they see fit, just as we expect to be left to  follow  our  own
paths.  We can best achieve mutual progress by interacting cooperatively
and benevolently toward all who  do  not  threaten  our  lives,  and  by
supporting  diversity of opinion and behavior.  Respecting diversity and
disagreement requires us to maintain control  of  our  impulses  and  to
uphold  high  standards  of  rational personal behavior.  Extropians are
guided in their actions by studying the  fields  of  strategy,  decision
theory  and  game  theory.   These  make  clear  to  us  the benefits of
cooperation and encourage the long-term thinking appropriate to  persons
seeking an unlimited lifespan.


5. DYNAMIC OPTIMISM

     We  espouse  a  positive,   dynamic,   empowering   attitude.    To
successfully  pursue our values and live our lives we must reject gloom,
defeatism, and the common  cultural  focus  on  negatives.   Problems  -
technical,  social,  psychological,  ecological - should be acknowledged
but not allowed to dominate our thinking and our direction.  We  respond
to   gloom   and   nay-saying   by  exploration  and  promotion  of  new
possibilities.  Extropians hold to both short  and  long-term  optimism:
In  the  short term we can cultivate our lives and enhance ourselves; in
the long  term  the  positive  potentials  for  intelligent  beings  are
virtually limitless.

     We question limits that others take for granted.  We  look  at  the
acceleration  in scientific and technical knowledge, ascending standards
of living, and social and moral evolution and project further  advances.
More  researchers  today  than  in all past history strive to understand
aging, control disease, upgrade computers, and develop biotechnology and
nanotechnology.    Technological   and   social  evolution  continue  to
accelerate, leading, some of us expect, to a Singularity - a future time
when  many  of  the  rules  of life will so radically diverge from those
familiar to us, and progress will  be  so  rapid,  that  we  cannot  now
comprehend  that  time.   Extropians  will  maintain the acceleration of
progress and encourage it in beneficial directions.

     Adopting dynamic  optimism  means  focusing  on  possibilities  and
opportunities,  and being alert to solutions and potentialities.  And it
means refusing to whine about what  cannot  be  avoided,  learning  from
mistakes  rather  than  dwelling  on  them  in  a victimizing, punishing
manner.  Dynamic optimism requires us to take the initiative, to jump up
and  plough  into  our  difficulties  with  an attitude that says we can
achieve our goals, rather than to sit  back  and  immerse  ourselves  in
defeatist thinking.

     Dynamic optimism is not compatible with passive faith.  Faith in  a
better  future  is confidence that an external force, whether God, State
or society,  will  solve  our  problems.   Faith,  or  the  Polyanna/Dr.
Pangloss variety of optimism, breeds passivity by encouraging the belief
that progress will be effected by others.  Faith requires  a  determined
belief  in  external  forces  and so encourages dogmatism and irrational
rigidity of belief and behavior.  Dynamic optimism fosters activity  and
intelligence,  telling  us that we are capable of improving life through
our  own  efforts.   Opportunities  and  possibilities  are  everywhere,
waiting for us to seize them and create new ones.  To achieve our goals,
we must believe in ourselves, work hard,  and  be  open  to  revise  our
strategies.

     Where others see difficulties, we  see  challenges.   Where  others
give  up,  we  move forward.  Where others say enough is enough, we say:
Forward!   Upward!   Outward!   We   espouse   personal,   social,   and
technological  evolution into ever higher forms.  Extropians see too far
and change too rapidly to feel future shock.  Let us advance the wave of
evolutionary progress.


     Extropianism is  a  transhumanist  philosophy:   Like  humanism  it
values  reason and sees no ground for believing in supernatural external
forces controlling our  destiny.   But  transhumanism  goes  further  in
calling  us  to  push  beyond  the  simply human stage of evolution.  As
physicist Freeman Dyson said:  "Humanity looks to me like a  magnificent
beginning but not the final word." Religion has traditionally provided a
sense  of  meaning  and  purpose  in  life,  but  it   also   suppressed
intelligence and stifled progress.  The Extropian philosophy provides an
inspiring and uplifting meaning and  direction  to  our  individual  and
social  existence,  while  remaining  flexible  and  firmly  founded  in
science, reason, and the boundless search for improvement.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU