Re: Science as Idea & Meme

From: Scott Chase (ecphoric@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed 18 Jun 2003 - 02:52:49 GMT

  • Next message: Lawrence DeBivort: "Precision of replication"

    >From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@rogers.com>
    >Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    >To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    >Subject: Re: Science as Idea & Meme
    >Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 19:52:54 -0400
    >
    >At 09:10 AM 17/06/03 -0400, Reed wrote:
    >
    >snip
    >
    >>"A true causal chain can be traced all the way back to its source."
    >>
    >>If you mean "it must trace it's predictions to it's axioms" that makes
    >>sense. But, if you're demanding that a causal chain must link everything
    >>from the infinitesimal to the infinite, that's an unreasonable
    >>restriction.
    >
    >Maybe not in all cases. The lumpiness of the universe that led to the
    >formation of clusters of galaxies is believed to have resulted from quantum
    >fluctuations when the fireball was tiny. Then again, some people think the
    >entire universe came from a quantum fluctuation in a vacuum.
    >
    >
    But, why should one have to go all the way back to the part of the causal nexus of the big bang when they are merely discussing the biochemistry and cell biology of the here and now that Reed is trying to get across to Ted? It's just not relevant.

    The preconceptions of biology such as central dogma of nucleic acids to peptides are adequate to the task. No cosmology need be invoked. It's the simplistic one to one mapping that should be jettisoned when looking at genetype and phenotype. This does not imply morphic resonance can save the day. It can't save itself if its greatest advocate is testing pets for psychic abilities. What application does discovering a Clever Hansian guinea pig have to the intricate problems of cell biology? My parents always said that my pet guinea pig knew when I was walking through the front door. Big deal. It probably, at best, picked up on some subtle cues like sound of my car or something without the geist factor. Whatever abilities my guinea pig had, what implications does this have for protein folding or the interface of evolution and deveopment where some headway has been made contrary to Ted's strawman rendition. Molecular chaperones and homeotic genes respectively seem to squash morphic resonance in their respective rights. Don't expect the geistly holists to present the biological state of the art in their rhetoric.

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