From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon 18 Nov 2002 - 16:11:00 GMT
>You and other RIGHT (not intimating correct here) minded people have
>assumed that you know what is best for others in the world on the basis of
>- well I don't know realy.
>You have no evidence that you are any more moral than the next person other
>than a bunch of your fellow USAnians agree with you. That does not make you
>RIGHT - and I do mean correct this time.
The difference between us on this issue is that I'm not talking about right
or wrong but the course of cultural evolution and how if effects
civilization. I don't think anyone can reverse the course of that evolution
and any attempts to do so are doomed to failure by the nature of evolution
itself. If you wipe out enough people to make going back to basics
possible, it will merely set evolution back a bit but not stop it. The
people who survive will still have the memes that have been developed
available as stories and artifacts.
But stronger than that is the fact that the people who are spreading the
body of the new culture around the globe have more options to work with and
therefore a better chance of success in spreading their memes. Right or
wrong doesn't enter into the picture. It's just the side that wants to
enlarge the meme pool has more going for it than the side that wants to
restrict it. The tools we've developed, such as the internet, global
commerce, management techniques, educational methods, etc., etc. are a
stronger force, in my opinion, than a mind set that wants to restrict access
to these tools.
This is not a moral position. It's an observation about the way the
evolution of culture is and has been developing for some time now. It's
based on the number of people who inhabit the earth and the resources needed
to survive in such large numbers. The people like bin Laden who are trying
to hold back the spread of these memes is like a man trying to hold back the
tide or the rush of a mighty river. He may be heroic in the eyes of some
but doomed to failure in the long run.
As an example, I cite the Chinese who tried for years to keep Western
concepts out of China but ended up embracing them in the end.
Cheers,
Grant
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