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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (9735)	1/24/2002 11:00:08 AM
From: Bill Fischofer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

The "digital divide" and related gaps are a structural facet of exponential growth. A number of authors such as Ray Kurzweil in The Age of Spiritual Machines have touched upon this but it really runs much deeper. The "anti-globalization" movement is a reaction to this ever-widening gap. But what most people don't want to hear is that we've long since passed the point of no return and we cannot dismount the technology tiger. Nor do we wish to. The accelerating pace of change is the path we have chosen and the process by which humanity is calling to itself the next stage in its evolution. Exponential change is a relatively rare event because it is inherently unsustainable. Yet exponential processes are commonplace. The key to appreciating this paradox is to realize that the exponential is the mechanism of phase transitions. All exponential processes end in phase transitions: water becomes ice, the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the zygote becomes a child. But there is also a "dark side" for the exponential is also the mechanism of destruction: chemicals become bombs, stars become novae, and death overtakes the body. So the fact that humanity is in the grip of the exponential means that we are heading for a phase transition. Looking back is useless, we can only look forward. Whether that phase transition will be creative or destructive is up to us, but it is a choice we cannot avoid making.

To: epicure who wrote (9735)	1/24/2002 2:33:31 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

Much of what you say, X, I entirely agree with. The point however, is that the allegations they were making (that of being a pedophile and child molester) would provoke offense in most decent people. They staged a one act play to make it appear that my lack of defense was wimping out or the ugly implication that perhaps there was truth to the matter. He expresses publicly his puzlement at why I do not defend. After all, what kind of a decent person would not denounce pedophilia? In the meantime, he had banned me from posting and his whole performance was an act. I guess we can throw out the terms of use entirely, and consider that violations may no longer be deemed to exist. Alternatively, we can at least continue to speak against the very lowest and the very ugliest examples of SI bullies and cowards. If it had been someone else, I am sure I would have gone to the same amount of trouble to bring the truth to a few of the intelligent members of SI. I am not going to close my eyes to these kinds of social freaks. But thank you for giving it some perspective, X. AS always, a thoughtful and meaningful response... Message 16955543