Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All

Friday, December 28, 2012

Memory Holes for Sooper Science!

Just an amusing little update. You may recall a couple of days ago I posted this comment over at the Robot Cult pop zine h+ as a contribution to the discussion there over this column. My comment never appeared, but I was falsely alleged to have posted other comments there, and other comments appearing in the discussion also discussed me without allowing me any opportunity for response. Much of the back and forth in these rather silly allegations by the participants involved happen to be documented after all, but only because I actually published them all freely here. Naturally, none of the details remain at the Robot Cult site itself, to the extent that any real public discussion was partially and momentarily allowed there.

The final resolution of the dilemma from the transhumanoid standpoint seems to have involved eliminating a post by someone directing their attention to my criticism, the elimination of a few posts falsely alleging I wrote that post presumably in a pseudonymous bid for self-promotion, and then the shutting down of the post for further comment. My actual critical comment never appeared there, my denial of the false charges never appeared there.

The behavior of marginal defensive Robot Cultists or of critical thinkers championing promising science? You decide.

Still remaining among the comments on public view is one by the editor of the zine assuring me that criticism is welcome and my criticism in particular is welcome there (which is patently false given the above), as well as other posts that "passed muster" according to their stringent moderation policy including posts that call me "a joke" and another describing my views as "a load of woo" (no personal attacks permitted, the editor piously assures us), a post defending the white race by reference to claims about "blacks" in baseball, a post describing California as a socialist state on the road to oblivion, and a comment demanding an explanation why anybody would think it is juvenile to expect science to deliver him a 300 year lifespan and invulnerability to sky diving accidents (the direct response to which demand my original comment was devoted).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dale : have you deconstructed the abuse of "Bayesian Logic" that the "less wrong" kids (A Nasty Mob is one of their leaders, Yudokowsky appears to be their Supreme Commander) claim makes every thing they say valid and Papally Infallable 'cause it's like MATH man the way we super doods think!

The Less Wrong club also boasts of hot tub orgies... it is quite a Tree House of super kids, or so they maintain...

Anonymous said...

http://lesswrong.com/promoted/

and they have a Liturgy!

wow...


Anonymous said...

some of the Russian transhumanist kids (who are also anti-semitic and nazi style nationalist eugenicists) think this artificial lanuage invented by a California DMV clerk is going to help make them Mental Supermen... I wish I was making this up, but it appears to be true:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer