RE: meaning in memetics

From: Wade T.Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Fri Feb 18 2000 - 12:35:45 GMT

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Subject: RE: meaning in memetics
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 07:35:45 -0500
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From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
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    Richard Brodie made this comment not too long ago --

    >What mechanism to you propose to cause such an adaptation if not genetics or
    >memetics?

    Yup, I ain't an evolutionist, and I hate jargon in general. I use the
    dictionary, and expect plainspeakers to do the same.

    The mechanism behind the behavioral adaptation that is culture is, as Joe
    so well explained, the interaction between the genetic determinants and
    the environment of society. It's a feedback loop.

    Memetics, IMHO, should be getting at developing positive feedback, not
    counting how many idiots forwarded a chain letter.

    - Wade

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