Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA29247 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 25 Feb 2002 14:42:46 GMT X-WebMail-UserID: rmey4892 Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 09:36:19 -0500 From: rmey4892 <rmey4892@postoffice.uri.edu> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk X-EXP32-SerialNo: 00002288 Subject: reply to Wade Message-ID: <3C958340@iit1s21> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: WebMail (Hydra) SMTP v3.61.07 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Wade,
>Yes, but, you see, handy things are _not_ things that one has never seen
>before. The religion of one's family is _the_ handiest thing around, and the
>MacDonald's down the block is just that much handier than the Burger King
>three streets down. The fact that there is little to no difference among the
>choices is what is moot.
But somwhere these memes must be invented, or they must be stumbled upon, much
like you might stumble upon a fruit tree if you were to walk far enough.
Having never seen fruit hanging from anything but a supermarket shelf, might
you wonder if it was safe to eat? You don't know where the fruit from that
tree has been!!!!!
>Perhaps no meme is required, but a fruit tree is, and a handy one at that.
>Living in a city as I do, I cannot see a fruit tree unless I travel long
>distances, and that is not handy. The grocery store around the corner is
>handy. And faster.
certainly a meme is required, if only a meme that says "I, a smart brain,
recognize and perceive a piece of fruit. I believe I'll eat it."
>You are far from alone in wondering if I am serious. But, of course, I am.
>Music, as W. Benzon later chimed in, may be a more important cultural marker
>than language.
I liked that idea. have you heard Tuvan throat singing? They are a mongolian
tribe and their method of singing is now being studied by music major of
classical backgrounds and even some bluesingers. It is amazing how they have
actually struck upon certain sounds that the human vocal apparatus can make,
utilizing both mouth and throat to produce two simultaneous notes!!!! This is
actually in an attempt to mimic some sounds of nature around them and it
probably reflects some of the intonations of gutterall sounds present in their
language. THERE ARE LOTS OF WEBSITES...i'LL TRY TO SCARE ONE UP FOR YOU.
>But, the conclusion I am more coming to is that speciation is a meaningless
>concept in memetics, until the meme itself is sequenced.
Au contrair mon frere. Darwin discussed species with a copy of Mendels work
lying on his desk....the pages uncut (implying he never read Mendel's work).
I'll leave the codes to Geneticists, Mathematicians, Computer scientists, and
Neurophysiologists (Ok, I guess "God" can share that knowledge too). I am
content to tell you here that if coded instructions are the basis of
evolution, and species are agreggations of such coded instructions into
entities, discrete in time and space, then all coded instructions must be
accounted for in a robust evolutionary theory.
Randy
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