Re: Why are human brains bigger?

From: Bill Spight (bspight@pacbell.net)
Date: Mon May 22 2000 - 23:14:43 BST

  • Next message: chuck: "Re: Why are human brains bigger?" 

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Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 15:14:43 -0700
From: Bill Spight <bspight@pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Why are human brains bigger?
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
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    Dear Chuck,

    > If memetics is supposed to be a
    > science, then there has to be explicit comparisons with existing theory to
    > see which theory has the advantage.
    >
    > I myself have specified falsifiable conditions, but I haven't heard anyone
    > within the meme tradition specify this, and that's a standard tool of
    > science.

    I do not consider memetics a theory, as much as a viewpoint.
    Memes fit the definition of evolutionary entities. They vary,
    they reproduce, and they are selected. A meme is not a
    metaphorical gene.

    Memes pass on acquired characteristics, so the evolutionary
    theory most applicable to memetics is Lamarckian evolution.
    Lamarckian evolution has not been as well developed as Darwinian
    evolution because genes do not (as a rule) pass on acquired
    characteristics. So there is a lot of room for memetic theory to
    develop.

    Best,

    Bill

    P. S. Saybrook was named indirectly for Old Saybrook, Conneticut,
    site of a major conference on Humanistic Psychology in the early
    70s. Saybrook confers degrees in Psychology and Human Science. I
    don't know about what lines of communication Saybrook has open
    with other schools.

    Saybrook has a web site at http://www.saybrook.edu

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