poly: Transhuman Transition

From: Steve Witham <sw@tiac.net>
Date: Tue Feb 10 1998 - 20:56:23 PST

Perry writes in an aside:

>it is silly to plan for the next decade or two based on the
>notion that it is just around the corner.

Boring interpretation: It's possible to plan for the next decade or
two, but silly to base that planning on assumptions of stability.

Striking interpretation: Planning for the next decade or two, on the
theory that it's "just around the corner," is silly. Just because it's
coming soon doesn't mean you can plan for it anymore.

Funny interpretation: It's silly to base your planning on the assumption
that the next couple of decades are "just around the corner." We are
working as fast as we can, but until we say so don't let your clocks
advance beyond 1999.

I was stuck on that the second interpretation, like a deer staring at
headlights, for quite a while.

 --Steve

--
<sw@tiac.net>Steve Witham
Don't dream it, su to it.
Received on Wed Feb 11 06:22:24 1998

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