Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id AAA06677 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 11 Apr 2002 00:05:40 +0100 X-Originating-IP: [209.240.222.132] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: memetics-digest V1 #1011 Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 18:59:31 -0400 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F85Xsn2Yf0scL9NtDEJ00001de2@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 10 Apr 2002 22:59:32.0168 (UTC) FILETIME=[60584480:01C1E0E3] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
>Subject: Re: memetics-digest V1 #1011
>Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 09:04:07 -0400
>
>On 04/09/02 22:20, Scott Chase said this-
>
> >I thought the creative event would precipitate from within, where
> >"unconcious" elements that have been fermenting combine and bubble to the
> >surface in a somewhat syncretic manner
>
>Yes. _If allowed to_ by the release of pre-conceptions.
>
> >[Jung] creativity is
> >nothing more than novel juxtaposition of old material pulled from
>elsewhere
>
>Insipid little theory.
>
>
How so? Is is because I was compelled by reading *Jung* (a textbook case of
the genetic fallacy if you're scoffing at the source). Otherwise what in
particular is flawed in the notion that novelty stems from recombination of
old material, even if the sources have been long forgotten?
As Jung wrote in his "Cryptomnesia" essay: "Our psyche is not so fabulously
rich that it can build from scratch each time. Neither does nature."
I'm not exactly sure what Jung had in mind when writing this, but if you
consider how evolution involves tinkering with old stuff and how things get
co-opted for new functions and how genetic recombination is of importance
(versus standard point mutations and such), this little quote sounds quite
cogent, perhaps even more so than Jung could have realized roughly a century
ago.
Jung may have written a lot of superfluous fluff over his career, but I
don't think the cryptomnesia essay should be characterized as such.
Of course I may be oversting the case with regard to creativity, but that's
how spur of the moment stances go...
Hoop snakes...yes?
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