I can't express my disgust vehemently enough.

The point of all of this was that they wanted and expected everyone to die. The rapture was sure to come along with the second coming of Christ. So they were hoping that Y2K was going to usher along their ascension to heaven, meanwhile they would revel in the deaths and eternal damnation of billions of people. Very loving of all of those Christians to want such a fate for all of those sinners.

But wait! If the rapture is coming in only a few months, then what the fuck are you doing peddling your shit to people. Shouldn't you just give it out, since money is going to be completely worthless when Christ returns? What a load of fucking crap, and yet they are allowed to get away with it, and the poor bastards that don't know any better buy into it. The whole thing makes me fucking sick. This is the kind of bullshit that God has to offer.

[/antitheist rant]

This is great. I agree with his sentiment- the need for more debate with futurists and singularitatians. Funnily enough, I actually send Hofstadter an email in 2004 and he sent me a copy of the chapter that he had written for a book to be published by the oxford university press. It's great that he is still thinking and speaking about this topic, and basically saying what I expected him to say: "Calm down! You guys need to have more critical minds looking at this"

He asked me not to share his response, as the book was at that time yet to be published, but my question to him was thus:

Greetings Professor Hofstadter,

I'm a fan of yours, and not currently an AI researcher, for some reason that is outside the scope of this email.

I read GEB:EGB compulsively in highschool and have since bought 6 copies and given them to many friends. I've also read Metamagical Themas many times, and your magnificent Le Tombeau De Marot. Several years ago, I discovered a crackpot who claims to be a fan of yours by the name of Eliezer Yudkowsky, spouting off at great length about the forthcoming Singularity. The subject has captivated my imagination, despite its trappings of fanatacism, and I've luckily discovered slightly less crackpot adherents since that time. In particular I find Ray Kurzweil and Hans Morevac convincing.

I am very interested to know what your thoughts are on the singularity, and if you think that predictions of an asymptotic ascension of technology in our near future are realistic.

I suppose I shouldn't assume that you are familiar with all of this 'crazy-talk' so here are a few links:
http://yudkowsky.net/singularity.html
http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0134.html?printable=1

If you have any comments, or better, if you have written any articles concerning this subject, I'd very much like to read them.

Thanks mate. My defenses are ready for an onslaught!

In reply to your comment:
“Hey, congrats on your ascension to the #1 spot!
you DO realize, you'll be targeted now, right? ”

Hey, congrats on your ascension to the #1 spot!
you DO realize, you'll be targeted now, right?

Continued:

Much is often also made of the “exceptional” research that Clampett and his animators undertook (they visited night-clubs and “drafted” African-African musicians and actors) to provide an accurate, celebratory, authentic and incorporative vision of urban African-American culture of the time. Along with Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943) it highlights Clampett's fascination with African-American street culture, its syncopation and language, pushing its potent stereotypes to the extremes of comic absurdity.

Also, as with many of Clampett's cartoons, one can sense the direct influence of comic books, popular music, street culture, live-action cinema and contemporary art (especially surrealism) upon these two films. Like much of Clampett's best work, these films are syncopated snapshots of a particular time, place and set of social mores. So it is hardly surprising to discover that the greatest period of Clampett's tenure at Warners coincides with the ramped-up stereotypes encouraged by the World War II era. As Tim Onosko argues, “Clampett created an entirely new and irreverent style of animated filmmaking more suited to the era than either Disney or Fleischer” (17). Although Onosko's parochial account unnecessarily favours Clampett at the expense of his Warners' colleagues, as well as Avery at MGM, it does pinpoint the ascension of the studio to the pinnacle of Hollywood short animation during this period and accurately regards Clampett's work as a cornerstone of this process.

To me that is what this video is, a snapshot of that era, not a racist hate film.

[comment continued]
The second exception is because of the huge impact of becoming a goldie - although we hope by that point in time the goldie will find someone to nudge to acknowledge their achievement if at all possible.

Of course, most people who reach such lofty heights may or perhaps celebrate both their ascension along with that of another recent 'promotion' to a higher star/gem (in which case, you're already using the much more egalitarian exception #1).

/Thus spake the kulak's designated gadfly.\