Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id TAA20030 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 3 Jun 2000 19:11:32 +0100 Message-ID: <3939038E.4766C373@mediaone.net> Date: Sat, 03 Jun 2000 14:09:34 +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: <Pine.OSF.4.21.0006021258510.29909-100000@frost.umd.edu> <200006031721.NAA05399@mail6.lig.bellsouth.net> 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
"Joe E. Dees" wrote:
> Date sent: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 15:09:56 -0500
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> From: Aaron Lynch <aaron@mcs.net>
> Subject: Re: Cui Bono Chuck?
> Send reply to: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>
> > At 01:00 PM 6/2/00 -0400, Lawrence H. de Bivort wrote:
> >
> > >Aaron, if I may crudely summarize: are you saying that Christians in Roman
> > >times simply out-populated non-Christians, rather than increase their
> > >numbers through conversion?
> >
> > Lawrence,
> >
> > No, I am saying that both parent to child transmission and peer to peer
> > transmission (as well as ideological and physical preservation effects)
> > account for Christians coming to out-number non-Christians. My book
> > discusses a variety of both peer to peer and parent to child mechanisms,
> > along with faith-preservation mechanisms and survival mechanisms. Stark,
> > whose book came out the same year mine did, was actually finding ancient
> > evidence that happens to back my evolutionary hypotheses of both peer to
> > peer and parent to child transmission playing important roles. Stark
> > documents how Christianity rose in prevalence without looking at it as a
> > form of natural selection.
> >
> > Many would label parent to child propagation as "natural increase," but I
> > find no more reason to call this "natural" than to call peer to peer
> > persuasion "natural." Mathematically, parent to child is treated in the
> > first two terms of my differential equations, while peer to peer is treated
> > in the third and fourth terms of my differential equations. Those terms
> > take different forms, but do not imply any special status as "natural" for
> > parental transmission.
> >
> Another way to emphasize the effect following the admonition to
> "be fruitful and multiply" up to and including a taboo on both
> abortuin and birth control has had upon the multiplication of
> multitudes is to observe the correlative opposite case, the Shakers,
> whose basic reproductive tenet is "just don't do it", and who have
> depended exclusively upon peer-to-peer proselytization. They don't
> seem to have been too successful to date on the membership
> roster front.
I think it could be quite relevant that their "just don't do it" was reinforced
by emotionally intense rituals oriented around dancing at frenetic levels. Also,
their heyday was in the mid 1800s, a transitional period where there was much
ambiguity about marital roles.
>
> >
> > --Aaron Lynch
> >
> >
> > PS, What is the Evolutionary Services Institute? It sounds interesting.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ===============================================================
> > 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
===============================================================
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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