We are not Borg. Resistance is eminently practical.

 

http://lesswrong.com/lw/3h/why_our_kind_cant_cooperate/

A discussion that sorely needs having in the set of all subcultures and communities that value or practice rationality as a goal. 

One of the reasons I've grown increasingly alienated from such groups as I've grown older is that they seem to be predominantly oriented around individual thoughts and activities, with little community implied beyond "we're all here talking". More like a business meeting than a community proper, as it were. This is in addition to the very strongly-Libertarian* skew many of these circles have; they tend not to be very good spaces if you're conscious of (and negatively affected by) overt displays of privilege and/or denial of same. Basically it's all very atomized, much like the society it's taking place in, and that's something I've been trying to get away from in my life -- the mindset that this is "normal" (rather than just prevalent), and the overt valuation of such behavior.

Some of this differs from place to place -- I've observed that one of the key differences between, for example, transhumanist groups in Europe vs North America is that the European groups tend to be a lot more socially and politically diverse, whereas in North America the most visible and organized sections and big names are usually fiscal conservatives, anarcho-capitalists or Objectivists (in their backgrounds if not currently -- Jamais Cascio, who blogs at Open the Future, is a notable exception). However, this sort of thing is prevalent in all such subcultures I've been involved with, and it bothers me because it feels like it's leaving out a sizeable majority of humanity, when the issues at hand are ostensibly of significance (if only abstractly) to all of them. As I've said elsewhere, if I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your Singularity, and if your social and technological ideals fail to make sense in the context of, say, Liberia or Uzbekistan, then I'm going to question how generally applicable your ideas (and by extension, the ethics behind those choices) really are.

 I always feel a bit self-conscious in writing about this because I actually place enormous value on individual rights and freedoms, but am unconvinced by the notion I've heard so often: "There is no society, only individuals (and families)." That hasn't been a meaningful statement for most of human history, it's still not meaningful for much of humanity *now*, the lifestyle that makes this attitude seem viable has only been possible thanks to seriously exploitative practices levied against much of the world, and I can't agree that it's a desireable goal either.