From: Wade Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Fri 01 Nov 2002 - 21:20:56 GMT
On Friday, November 1, 2002, at 12:58 , joedees@bellsouth.net wrote:
> Selection and mutation happen mainly internally and cognitively, while
> communication and transmission - that is, attempts at replication - is
> an
> external action function.
Selection and mutation also happen in the transmission, and even in the
performance. I have no idea whether or not anything in the mind
'mutates' or gets 'selected' until I see a performance.
And, again, even the performer is unaware, at all times, of the
_actuality_ of his performance (as this is, as you pointed out, always a
_future_ event, as the neural firings precede the muscular activations),
regardless of skill level or interior preparation. (Yes, this bit of
neurological news was the actual tipping point eureka kernel of physical
fact that popped the whole pemetic model into view for me.)
Rarely does anyone ever say, 'gee, that happened just as I thought it
would', although that is not, with good controls, and/or elementary
requirements for performance, unlikely. Cultures continue precisely
because performances are likely to be close if not indistinguishable
replications of the original, since the culture itself sets the
requirements for the performance. But each performance is a new one, a
different one, by a different self, in a different time and space.
Cultures are, if nothing else and not illusory, the stage set and
technical directions for performance.
- Wade
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