From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri 14 Mar 2003 - 16:21:43 GMT
Dennett seems to me to be playing the blame game with his assertion the
everyone should be responsible for what other people do with the words we
say and the memes we drop into society. In other words, I should be
responsible for what you do with the memetic tools I invent or pass on.
It reminds me of the problems being caused by old soldiers from Taiwan
visiting their families in mainland China and bringing back a new virulent
form of pneumonia that is sweeping the island. Should we blame the old
sodiers who fled to Taiwan in 1949 and went back to visit their families one
last time before they die? Or should we blame the mainlanders for catching
the disease in the first place and passing it on to visitors? Why bother to
blame anyone? It's all part of the world we live in and germs and memes
will do what they always do -- propagate.
Grant
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