The Manual Explained

As author of this book, I offer a grid of what the book is, and is not:

• is a terse short manual
• is for readers who can understand systems science
• is about extropic systems
• is about epistemic technology
• is about the Anthropocene geological era
• is for the bourgeoisie-technologist
• is supportive of industrialization
• is written in a style inspired by the Tao Te Ting
• is progressive ideals of cultural inclusiveness and diversity
• is compatible with the perspectives of Ayn Rand
• is supportive of evolution and change as a demand on all things
• is supportive of mobility and adaptation as a demand for all humans
• is supportive of violence in defence of society's continued dynamism
• is supportive of treating intentional pacifist localized economies as powerless tributaries
• is appropriate for all brilliant children as a source of inspiration and guidance
  
  
• not a manual with detailed implementation
• not supportive of a return to more primitive ways of living
• not for absolute local economies
• not for absolute pacifism
• not for religious morals imposed on wider society
• not for a totalitarian society engineered not to evolve
• not for legislation designed to prevent individual and community death by failure

Introduction

Ecological denizens of the 21st century are in need of a manual written for their survival, and for guidance in large scale decisions. In earlier ages the guidance was in the Bible, Analects, and Tao Te Ting. Today, the reader is steering rather than being steered, and a manual for the machinery is needed. This book is that manual.

Prependix A: Glossary

Extropic:

Any system which can sustain disequilibrium -- that is, over time it neither collapses in chaos (one-time disequilibrium) nor tightens into repetitious and predictable harmony (sustainable equilibrium) – is an extropic system. One consequence of the extended disequilibrium found in extropic system is that this unbalance will steadily produce new things in the universe. The constant state of “being on the edge between chaos and order” becomes a source of perpetual novelty. Technology, like life and mind, is one such extropic system. From these we get new forms, new directions, new ideas. There is probably no other source of the new in the universe other than this profound imbalance.

-Kevin Kelly February 2006,
early draft of The Technium

Epistemic Technology:

Epistemic technologies are the technologies of knowing, such as the alphabet, writing, books, libraries, indexing, cataloging, cross-referencing, hyperlinking.

-Kevin Kelly February 2006
early draft of The Technium

1

The one superior reality is an extropic system being expanded with epistemic technology. This reality is the 21st century, and will not negotiate with other realities as equals.

2

The ecological denizens of the extropic system being expanded with epistemic technology are easily discerned by their genetics and intellect not being relevant for survival in pre-industrial environments.

3

All protective measures, including killing of humans, in the 21st century are considered proactive if serving the generative capacity of the extropic system being expanded with epistemic technology.

4

The ecological denizens of the extropic system being expanded with epistemic technology are recursively part of the extropic system being expanded with epistemic technology. As a part, they are essential for its continued existence.