RE: Watches & Necklaces

From: Richard Brodie (richard@brodietech.com)
Date: Thu 29 May 2003 - 14:59:32 GMT

  • Next message: Chris Taylor: "Re: Pursuit of Watches and Necklace Fitness"

    This discussion actually hits on a fascinating aspect of Darwinism. Plotkin, in his book "Darwin Machines" (I believe there was a different title in the UK unfortunately), theorizes that the genetic-fitness advantage of big brains is in fact flexibility. A big-brained species can adapt to ecological changes much quicker than one that depends upon genetic evolution to adapt.

    The unforeseen spandrel of this adaptation was the memetic big bang. With the advent of language, big brains filled up with memes that were not necessarily related to genetic fitness. Genetic adaptation is working slowly in the background to counter this tendency but right now college education is lowering the genetic fitness of the lineages that are fortunate enough to go.

    As you say, Chris, we hope that should a catastrophe occur the flexibility and capability afforded us by big brains will allow us to survive. But we might all be too busy watching the Scott Peterson trial on CNN. Vonnegut's
    (Darwin's) blue-footed boobies might have the last laugh.

    Richard Brodie www.memecentral.com

    -----Original Message----- From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf Of Chris Taylor Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 6:07 AM To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Watches & Necklaces

    > So you're saying we'll only save the college graduates when the meteor
    > comes?

    Yeah. That's a rule I could use :)

    Well no. What I was getting at is that there is a pyramid of numbers of people x educational levels, and to some extent you couldn't have pushed the apex so high if the base wasn't wide enough (a developed technical society is required to get off-planet because it provides the context for the 'rocket scientists').

    Actually I'd (specifically) save the engineers first (which I'm not).

    Richard Brodie wrote:
    > So you're saying we'll only save the college graduates when the meteor
    > comes?
    >
    > Richard Brodie
    > www.memecentral.com
    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
    > Of Chris Taylor
    > Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 2:18 AM
    > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > Subject: Re: Watches & Necklaces
    >
    >
    > Education is not parasitic any more than producing armour plate on an
    > animal that is never attacked is somehow a 'selfish' trait. Scott is
    > right about the r vs K analogy - education equips you, although you may
    > never need the knowledge. It is not parasitic, because it has
    > demonstrable benefits. Mutualist, or at worst commensalist on balance.
    >
    > Wait till that meteor is heading for us, then tell me that an educated
    > population has effectively lower fitness for being educated [I see a
    > pyramid where a generally educated populace supports a very clever 'top'
    > class, because knowledge is valued; although I wouldn't want to start
    > trying to make group-based arguments...].
    >
    > Cheers, Chris.
    >
    > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    > Chris Taylor (chris@bioinf.man.ac.uk)
    > http://pedro.man.ac.uk/ »people»chris
    > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    >
    >
    > ===============================================================
    > This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
    > Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
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    > see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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    >
    >
    > ===============================================================
    > 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
    > 

    --
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Chris Taylor (chris@bioinf.man.ac.uk)
  http://pedro.man.ac.uk/ »people»chris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
===============================================================
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 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

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