dji@sbcs (David J Iannucci) (11/03/87)
I read K. Eric Drexler's _ENGINES OF CREATION_ several months ago and was
fascinated and intrigued. Just recently I got around to sending a postcard
to The Foresight Institute in Palo Alto, which organization, it says in the
back of the book, will provide the interested reader with periodic updates
on the state of the technology.
To my mild surprise, I found that Drexler is the president of FI. To my
more intense surprise, I found that a great deal of ink was spent in the
pursuit of acquiring my money. The justification seems reasonable, but I'm
not about to ship off my bucks at the drop of a hat. I'm not accusing anyone
of anything, but I must say that my immediate, instinctive response was to
be very suspicious.
Has anyone else had this experience?? Did you send a donation? Has anyone
else even read _EOC_? I can't believe I haven't seen any discussion of it
in this group.
If you're listening, KED, I'm sure you're aware that a lot of people will
react the way I did, and I can't guess your reason for going that route
anyway. My suggestion would be to require people to subscribe, for a
considerably smaller fee than you expect as a donation, to your newsletter.
--
Dave "after five years they give me a brush" Iannucci SUNY at Stony Brook
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