Five More Questions

From stanharding

1) Where in the world have you not been that's next on your list to see?

Mount Athos.

2) What indulgence do you grant yourself that you find slightly embarrassing?

I like to watch Middle Eastern dance.

3) What structure in your life do you lean on for support when you need it?

My religion.

4) Do you feel responsible for anyone else's life?

My wife Maya and my daughter Srsti.

5) What have you given up that you miss?

The dreams of my youth. Some of them.

Mayor Mailer, transhumanism, and the Fish Heads song

Qestions by mathardwick:

1. In 1969, Norman Mailer ran for Mayor of New York on an still-interesting pro-decentralization platform, but never got beyond the Democratic Primaries, where he scored 5% of the vote. Had he won the primary and the election, do you think he would have made a good mayor? And, do you think he'd make a better mayor than the current man in charge?

Yes. Yes. The community control of the local neighborhood school boards would have worked better with five Boards of Education rather than under one bureaucracy bigger than most UN member states. He would have done his best to stop the destruction of Lower Manhattan by the World Trade Center project, and at least demand that the Legislature require that the construction meet city building code -- saving a couple of thousand lives. And down with the dour Puritanism of the present!

2. Do you think the News Media is a major contributor to what seems to be an underlying tone of anxiety in this country? Please explain.

Yes. Human history has always been a vast tapestry of war and other misery, but in the past we were only required to be aware of our own little corner of it.

3. And speaking of anxiety, is the human race going to end, or is it not dead yet?

I'm still alive. But I have a sneaking sympathy with the extropians who want us to morph into a transhuman future. An end -- and a beginning.

4. What's your favorite rock band, if any?

Barnes and Barnes. (Do they count?)

5. You've mentioned Bertrand Russell in a previous post. Which of his books would you recommend?

For everyone, The Conquest of Happiness. For you in particular, The Principles of Mathematics.