Re: Humanity 3000 Debate

Don Mikulecky (mikuleck@HSC.VCU.EDU)
Fri, 15 Jan 1999 17:09:53 -0500


Don Mikulecky replies....
wasn't meaning you when i mentioned venting...sorry if I wasn't clear...thought
it would be obvious...but had no basis to assume that

If one were to peruse the archives one would find that I did my share of
venting. In many cases it was in opposition to Francis' very strong
reductionist/mechanist beliefs and the way he expressed them.. It was as if the
alternatives had no merit whatsoever. I can't say that this document shows any
evidence of that changing.
Respectfully,
Don

Tom Abel wrote:

> Don and Norman,
>
> My intention was to offer a serious alternative to Francis's interesting
> propositions for the next millennium. I probably could have held the
> sarcasm a bit, sorry about that, I was trying to make a forceful argument.
> It's very rare that I would post anything to one of these lists. But there
> was nothing venting about my model for the world. The position I took was
> extreme, but by design in order to make sharp the contrasts. I hope you'll
> see it in the spirit of discussion. Nobody can see the future. Definitely
> not me. But I would argue that complex systems (especially with a
> thermodynamic emphasis) can offer an intriguing lens for viewing that
> future. Ha!, what's maybe most amazing is how such disparate fortune
> telling can come from some of the same starting points.
>
> TA
>
> P.S. Sorry about any double posting. I keep getting messages that say my
> posting was a failure, but obviously someone is getting it. And I'm not
> getting it, but maybe I requested that when I signed on.
>
> At 11:10 AM 1/15/99 -0500, you wrote:
> >Don Mikulecky seconds the thought!
> >
> >Norman K. McPhail wrote:
> >
> >> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> >> --------------42405E7225B0AD3EC1A8835F
> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >>
> >> This all star debate between Tom Abel the zero sum fatalist and Francis
> >> Heylighen the closet nazi is a great match up. I can hardly wait for
> >> round two.
> >>
> >> NKM
> >> -
> >
> >I must say that reading as much of that as I could stand makes me wonder if
> >these discussions are anything but a place for folks to vent. I don't see
> >much sign of progess!Respectfully, but sadly,
> >Don Mikulecky
>
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