Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA12412 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 2 Jun 2000 14:01:13 +0100 Message-ID: <B6E47FBD3879D31192AD009027AC929C36890E@NWTH-EXCHANGE> From: Bruce Jones <BruceJ@nwths.com> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Jabbering ! Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 08:05:53 -0500 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2232.9) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vincent Campbell [SMTP:v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk]
> Subject: RE: Jabbering !
>
>
> I on the other hand really don't like this use of the word culture for
> other
> animals especially caterpillars.
>
> If memetics is a theory of cultural evolution then some agreement has to
> be
> reached about what a culture actually is. It seems to me, from many of
> the
> postings on this, that the term is used quite differently in different
> disciplines.
>
> I'd quite like someone to clarify for me how they use the term culture to
> describe behaviours of caterpillars or apes or whatever.
>
[BJ] I will try with my definition of a culture:
Culture (Noun, Adjective)
[BJ]
Noun: Any group of entities sharing a common environment, common
resources, or common interests for the mutual benefit of the group or
individual entities. Communication is a function of their individual and
group survival needs. Simple as "danger" and as complex as "E=mc2".
The level at which communication is carried out may have a
micro-cellular limit. Amoebae and trees "communicate" through chemical
alteration of their environment. SO far no communication of this type is
known below the amoebae that I have read or heard about.
Adjective: Any reference to a group of entities sharing a
commonality, group sharing of resources, and some form of communicative
action.
These "cultures" can not be associated with entities that function
alone and reproduce asexually. A tape worm is not a culture. It does not
share a common (local) environment with other tape worms, it does not
cooperate with other tape worms, it does not communicate with other tape
worms, and it reproduces asexually. An ant does each of these and can
therefore be considered a culture.
There, however, must be some level at which ... even though an
entity meets all requirements ... the discussion of culture becomes a null
argument. Hierarchy within a culture for division of labor makes for a
social entity ... difference.
Bruce Jones
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