From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Mon 18 Nov 2002 - 17:44:33 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.
>
Indeed, the long term evolution of political structure seems to be in the
direction of greater personal freedom and a wider array of alternatives
from which to choose.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Grant
>
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> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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