Re: Memes For Peace

From: Scott Chase (ecphoric@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon 10 Mar 2003 - 01:51:15 GMT

  • Next message: Scott Chase: "Re: memetics-digest V1 #1309"

    >From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@rogers.com>
    >Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    >To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    >Subject: Re: Memes For Peace
    >Date: Sun, 09 Mar 2003 20:22:41 -0500
    >
    >At 02:25 PM 09/03/03 -0600, Bryan Thompson wrote:
    >
    >>I agree that memes have been engineered by advertising and governments.
    >>what I am proposing is that we use memetic engineering for peaceful means
    >>to
    >>stop war and save lives. I think that this is a much more noble cause
    >>than
    >>selling underwear or cola.
    >
    >May I suggest you consider looking into another area? Memetics is a "how"
    >kind of explanation, moving the viewpoint to the information itself, along
    >the lines that the "selfish gene" moved the viewpoint to the gene to
    >understand what was being selected in the evolutionary process.
    >
    >Evolutionary psychology dovetails with memetics in providing "why" answers.
    > Namely, why do some memes thrive and others fail and possibly why 17 of
    >the 19 9/11 hijackers came from Saudia Arabia. It also may provide "how"
    >answers and provide guild lines for building good models of human social
    >psychology.
    >
    >Put the words "evolutionary psychology" in Google and take the second link.
    >
    >After you come up to speed on evolutionary psychology, put "sex drugs cults
    >henson" in Google and take the first link.
    >
    >If you can find some modest sources of funding, I think models making
    >remarkable predictions could be created and the conditions leading to war
    >could be headed off a generation before war occurs.
    >
    >
    It's good to see somebody else recognizing the "how" (proximate) versus
    "why" (ultimate) distinction. I recall, quite a while back, on this very list folks not recognizing the *mportance* of "why" questions. IIRC they thought "why" questions were meaningless.

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