File spoon-archives/lyotard.archive/lyotard_2004/lyotard.0404, message 48


Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 18:23:53 +0100
From: "steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk>
Subject: Re: it gives me hope


It is true I believe that Natasha is a west-coast american - but the 
posthumanism she represents is a G20 wide problem a descendent of the 
worse kinds of reactionary avantgardism -  when I forwarded the original 
link I do not think I implied that the issue is an parochial 'american' 
one.   However reading your notes Shawn is very interesting as it's an 
unfamiliar discourse - few Europeans would find the idea of 
perfectionism easy to accept...

Is there a connection between 'perfectionism' and 'libetarianism' ?

(I have more faith in communism than human voluntaism and 
co-operation.... as I'd assume we need enforced and legislative  limits 
to human activity...)

steve

swilbur-AT-wcnet.org wrote:

>One way to think of the More's version of extropian
>transhumanism is in the context of perfectionism in
>America. There's a very old, very complex tradition
>in the US, that includes everything from Oneida to
>Topolobampo to Twin Oaks to transhumanism. Whether 
>the perfectionist philosophy has been christian,
>fourierist, skinnerian or transhuman, American
>perfectionism usually manifests itself in a rich
>blend of radical and reactionary elements. Oneida
>was one of the first homes of both wings of the 
>eugenics movement - radical marriage reform as well
>as selective breeding (or "stirpiculture.") I'm not
>certain to what degree "apocalypse" is really the 
>issue, since a fairly characteristic move among
>perfectionists is to deemphasize last things and
>end times, in order to get on with the business of
>living in a possible paradise in this world. Unlike,
>say, survivalism, there is something disarmed, and
>hence disarming, about perfectionists. They can, of
>course, be badly wrong about present possibilities,
>and complicit with the worst elements of their times
>as a result. However, in an age where cynicism about
>the power of humans to even begin to address the
>crises we face seems almost complete, perhaps these
>odd believers *should* give us some small amount of
>hope. 
>
>And, Eric, i have a lot more faith in cooperation in
>all aspects of society and economy than i do in 
>communism. 
>
>-shawn
>
>
>
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