Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id QAA02025 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 30 May 2000 16:53:14 +0100 Message-ID: <39339D2A.CD8D770@mediaone.net> Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 11:51:22 +0100 From: chuck <cpalson@mediaone.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Cui bono, Chuck? References: <NBBBIIDKHCMGAIPMFFPJGEDJEOAA.richard@brodietech.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Richard Brodie wrote:
> Chuck wrote:
>
> <<But from a cultural
> perspective, [Weber's] work is excellent in showing how the culture
> developing to
> accommodate capitalism was a practical effort to develop the conceptual
> tools
> necessary to live in a capitalist society.>>
>
> Like the development of the giraffe's neck was a practical effort to develop
> the biological tools necessary to munch on high branches?
>
> Who was the designer?
Are you seriously suggesting that I can't distinguish between the mechanisms
responsible for longer giraffe necks and cultural change are the same? If so, I
suggest you go back and reread countless many of my past postings on this
listserv. I would also suggest that you *carefully* read Pinker's How the Mind
Works before you compulsively and automatically reject any notion that culture
is a practical tool for problem solution. I suspect that your own tendency to
automatically discard such a possibility reflects more your state of mind living
in Southern California than anything about the nature of culture. It was you,
after all, that said that memics - and your book - is really only a tool for
getting people to think about their behavior and hardly a scientific viewpoint.
In other words, memics itself is a cultural construction fashioned by you to
resolve problems you deem important. Do you really want to claim now that all
your memic productions are just invisible gremlines seeking parasitic
relationships with as many brains as possible? If so, perhaps you could get help
from the many psychotherapists in your area who are willing to provide you with
some help on this question.
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