From: Kenneth Van Oost (Kennethvanoost@belgacom.net)
Date: Tue 14 Jan 2003 - 20:03:10 GMT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kennethvanoost@belgacom.net>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 9:03 PM
Subject: Re: new memetics article
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ray Recchia" <rrecchia@mail.clarityconnect.com>
>
>
>
> > At 01:11 PM 1/12/2003 -0500, Keith Henson wrote:
> > Using the imagery of fitness landscapes, we can think of some memes
having
> > very steep fitness peaks. The notion that 1+1 = 2 has a very steep
slope
> > and is probably permanently stabilized. On the other hand hairstyle's
> come
> > and go quite quickly and could be thought of as having low fitness
peaks.
>
> But the technique to come to such a kind of style remains quite the same,
no
> !?
> A haircut is a haircut, in either way all hairdressers use the ' same '
> technique.
> Isn 't this the thing Sperber talks about, triggering and boottrapping !?
> Creating a hairstyle involves more than just copying a technique to cut
> hair.
> As how long do you define a low fitness peak, in contrast with 1+ 1= 2,
> sure you right, but I got doubts about the hairstyle- thing....1 week, a
> year,
> a century...!?
> Maybe I am in the wrong....
>
> Kenneth
>
> > In the legal profession there are certain areas of the law that change
at
> a
> > snail's pace, like certain aspects of real estate law. There are cases
> > from pre-revolutionary war England that are still considered good law in
> > the United States. On the other hand, family law notions have changed
> > drastically in the two centuries and no one would base a legal argument
on
> > a case from the 1800s.
>
> Maybe, but if one find the law convincing enough to back up his case, he
> will use it ! Be sure of that !
> In the recent past we 're confronted with what the judges call ' the word
> of the law ' and ' the spirit of the law '. The former is what is written
> down
> and this has to be taken literally, the latter is the interpretation, how
> the law
> is being ' used ' in the courtroom. In a legal argument those stand most
of
> the
> time diametrical one against the other.
> If it suits one both notions will be used accordingly.
>
> > I also agree with Grant that memes are not always propagated with each
> > potentially meme transmitting activity. For purely behavioral memes,
it
> > may take a person a number of observations, and then independent trial
and
> > error, before reproduction will occur. Although this is much different
> than
> > the process by which genes reproduce it can still be viewed as a
Darwinian
> > process.
>
> This is what the writer of the article refered to as 'non- content
> transmissions ',
> what is being 'suggested ' with the initial meme. I already mentioned this
> upon
> this list, to get the ' meme(plex)' you have to get all what surrounds it,
> the skeleton
> is what is transmitted, all the rest is pre- knowledge and learned
behavior.
> Of course, the latter is also due to memetic influence and in DNA encoded
> traits and habits evolved over the eons of time.
> To get the performance ' right ' you do need the additional info.
>
> > An individual's personalized manifestation of a meme may differ from
what
> > is originally transmitted because of the need to adapt to that person's
> own
> > individual memetic landscape and physical capacities. In the language
of
> > fitness landscapes the term 'epistatic interaction' is used to describe
> the
> > effect that the presence of other genetic or memetic elements have on
the
> > fitness of one particular element. This type of interaction is
frequently
> > modelled in fitness landscapes.
>
> Personaly I prefer ' interference ' above interaction , although it is
> debatable
> what is best.
> But has it to be the presence of other genes/ memes !?
> I think here about the fact " that fingers just arise in the womb if cells
> where
> with all those fingers initial were connected kill themselves " !
> Can 't have the lack of having some genes/ memes around an influence !?
>
> Kenneth
>
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