Re: DS syndrome

From: Wade T. Smith (wade.t.smith@verizon.net)
Date: Thu 22 May 2003 - 13:35:53 GMT

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    On Wednesday, May 21, 2003, at 09:34 PM, memetics-digest wrote:

    > [memes] macrolocations, in particular brain lobes, is already known

    I'm very sorry, Joe, but I am aware of no study that has as its subject
    "fMRI shows location of memes".

    In my admittedly short perusal of the scientific literature, I've encountered many studies using fMRI that are locating and identifying areas of the brain and activities of the brain involved with memory and with many other things, but not memes.

    However, from all you've said and all the ways you use it, it strongly appears that by 'meme' you actually mean 'memory' and nothing else.

    Okay, it's a large playground. Your definition of meme, shown to be an element of the working of the brain, is fine. This is a fledgling exercise, memetics, after all.

    But, I'm still concerned over how you will manage to claim that any old memory is necessary and sufficient for cultural evolution.

    After all, elephants have memories.

    And, ultimately, for memetics, we need to ask the question asked at http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~mnkylab/lecture.pdf -

    "What test would make this a science?--we want predictability, not explanatory, power."

    > how
    > can one admit the efficacy of education and deny that there is some
    > cognitive mechanism that allows us to learn, store, access and repeat
    > wthat which our education has taught us?

    We can't, of course- there is obviously some cognitive mechanism behind all of this and its in the brain. But, honestly, simply saying that and then saying the mechanism must involve memes, is, well, specious, and I'm being polite.

    So, from all I've seen from all of your arguments, you always have meant 'meme' to be synonymous with memory.,

    - Wade

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