Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA07517 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 18 May 2000 12:21:21 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D31CEB1AA@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Central questions of memetics Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 12:19:20 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Of course cultures can change in relation to technological developments,
that's a given, as with Western gender attitudes in the light of things like
the contraceptive pill. But they don't have to- witness Bhutan, or the
Taliban's Afghanistan.
But did culture emerge out of technology, or before it? Also, does
technology change in relation to culture (e.g. the design of houses
according to Fung Shui)?
How do you define technology? Presumably you think it's more than tool-use,
because some animals use tools but don't have cultures.
Are song, story-telling, drama or poetry technological? If so, how? If
not, why do we sing, tell stories, act in or watch drama, or compose poetry?
Sorry- lots more questions (Socrates would have proud- well of the method if
not the questions :-) !)
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Chuck Palson
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 2:33 pm
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: Central questions of memetics
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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