Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA05486 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 27 Feb 2002 13:43:08 GMT Subject: RE: Breath Mints: A Hot War for America's Cool Mouths Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 08:37:11 -0500 x-sender: wsmith1@camail.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-Id: <20020227133746.0FE4D1FD70@terri.harvard.edu> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 02/27/02 01:35, Keith Henson said this-
>I think by analogy plant and animal breeders practiced their trade for
>millennia before enough was understood to do genetic engineering.
I think by analogy, salesmen and priests practiced their trade for
millennia before enough was understood to do public relations.
(Although, what do we do with the teachers and the apprentices....)
>While any particular one may not be effective, I would expect
>effective memetic engineering to emerge within at most a decade of two.
If your first statement is to stand, along with my expanded analogy, your
last is disproved.
_If_ we are to think that memetics is somehow tied to the psychology of
influence, then we have had memetic engineers for as long as we've had
memes.
But if we are to place memetics along with genetics as scientific
investigations into the mechanics of (specifically mindful) life, then,
it is those mechanics, not a technology exploiting them, that is
memetics, and as genetics moves into the era of altering the path of
evolution along man-made corridors, then perhaps, yes, as you say,
'effective' memetic engineering (again, allowing the phrase to stand),
might begin to emerge and create MEO's to go along with the GEO's on our
plates and in our cradles.
Brave new world.
- Wade
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