Re: memetics-digest V1 #1319

From: Wade T. Smith (wade.t.smith@verizon.net)
Date: Wed 19 Mar 2003 - 22:23:22 GMT

  • Next message: Wade T. Smith: "Re: memetics-digest V1 #1319"

    On Wednesday, March 19, 2003, at 04:15 PM, Grant wrote:

    >> thought - a process by which Neuroactivity constructs meaning,
    >> modifies
    >> intentional structure, and makes representations for purposes of
    >> communication among humans and animals

    > Isn't that a way of propagating meanings from one brain to another?

    A performance based upon these thoughts might be one way to attempt to propagate meaning, sure.

    There is no guarantee such meanings would be communicated, however, except, as you point out, among people with some converging histories of meanings, in other words, people with convergent and/or overlapping cultures.

    Biology should take care of those regions of meaning or intentions of meaning that are simply allocated to us as human beings, but culture is the process of adhering enough people to a viable social construct to continue and thrive.

    That people living in a similar history find similar meanings in performances is the foundation of culture, not the _intention_ of it. It not only uses the biological fact that brains are similar and will support similar meanings and thoughts from similar environments, it is totally dependent upon this.

    You want someone to behave like a prisoner- you put them in prison. You want a spider to make a web four feet by four feet, you put it in a box. You want me to take the same trip in my car every time, you give me only one place to go and one road to get there.

    - Wade

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