Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA16484 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 17 May 2000 15:03:05 +0100 Message-ID: <39214E47.D87A7FAF@mediaone.net> Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 14:33:59 +0100 From: Chuck Palson <cpalson@mediaone.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Central questions of memetics References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D31CEB19F@inchna.stir.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Vincent Campbell wrote:
> Excellent example of a purely cultural function of an object, and this then
> begs the questions I'm interested in - where did cultures come from,
Do you mean in terms of evolutionary time
> why do
> we have them and other animals don't, and how do cultures
> persist/develop/change?
The fundamental reason that cultures change is because their resource base
changes and they need to modify their technology to exploit resources they
haven't used yet. For example, when all the trees were used up for fuel, they
discovered coal, coal mines, much more sophisticated means of transport for the
coal which included the steam engine, etc etc, all of which needed a far more
complex division of labor which in turn initiated a series of changes through
many generations that have still not stopped.
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