Re: Sue Blackmore lecture Wednesday 5.15pm London

From: Scott Chase (ecphoric@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed 19 Feb 2003 - 05:31:18 GMT

  • Next message: Scott Chase: "Re: Responses to "Hello, can anyone help?""

    >From: joedees@bellsouth.net
    >Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    >To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    >Subject: Re: Sue Blackmore lecture Wednesday 5.15pm London
    >Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:46:07 -0600
    >
    > > on 2/17/03 8:25 PM, joedees@bellsouth.net at joedees@bellsouth.net
    > > wrote:
    > >
    > > [snip]
    > >
    > > >>
    > > >> More empty boilerplate. You need to say why people prefer some
    > > >> memes over others. To simply say that some memes spread further
    > > >> because they're "better at getting into new human minds" doesn't
    > > >> say anything very helpful. That's as useful as saying that water
    > > >> runs down hill because it prefers being at the bottom of hills.
    > > >>
    > > > Actually, umm, no. Water is not a conscious agent as people are; it
    > > > cannot prefer like people can.
    > >
    > > But you memeticists don't talk about people as agents. You're always
    > > talking about memes as agents. In memetics human minds/brains are
    > > just passive respositories of meme-food.
    > >
    >Not Grant, not me, and not many others. Memes are no more
    >conscious or self-consciously aware than genes are, but people are.
    >We choose which memes to accept and which to reject based upon a
    >number of factors, including our personality dispositions and ourr
    >personal histories, but many of our choices are made after due
    >reflection and consideration, and a further search for information.
    >
    Poppycock. What about the "meme's eye view"? I thought (oops a meme in my head caused me to think) that it's not us having memes, but that it's all about the memes having us. Conscious "choice", volition, or "free will" is nothing more than a castle in the sky, a meme that has captured us in its net and caused us to "think" (whatver tht empty word means) that we have
    "control".

    "I" am not "me". "I" am an automaton driven by a collection of mental contagions, deluded that "I've" a "self" there. That's what the memes want me to "think" ;)

    _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

    =============================================================== 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 archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed 19 Feb 2003 - 09:13:21 GMT