From: Richard Brodie (richard@brodietech.com)
Date: Fri 20 Jun 2003 - 06:59:26 GMT
Scott wrote:
<<Chris could think evolutionary psychology is bunk, yet still hold that the
mindbrain is a product of evolution (including the process of selection).>>
No... I don't think so. That's what evolutionary psychology is.
Perhaps he disagrees only with certain wacko nutcases who write nonsense
under the rubric of evo-psych, much as some do under our own roof.
<<I think Chris's point is that his belief in memetics as an explanation of
human culture supercedes evolutionary psychological explanations, which tend
to root human behavior pretty deeply in some hypothesized environment of
evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) and discount the importance of socifacts in
their own right. An emphasis on the efficacy of cultural factors is not an
advocacy of an intelligent designer.>>
Psychology is fundamental to memetics. Viewing the mind as having evolved
through genetic evolution is a good idea, I think, but other models are also
possible. Obviously a memeticist will not discount the influence of culture
on behavior.
Interestingly, you used "supercede," a word spelled in the dictionary as
"supersede." It is in fact the only English word ending in "sede." The
"cede" meme won in your mind and you propagated it.
Richard Brodie
www.memecentral.com
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