From: Chris Taylor (Christopher.Taylor@man.ac.uk)
Date: Fri 20 Jun 2003 - 23:04:06 GMT
Wow I dont' know what's more scary about this information, that memetics
is so corrput, or that 'they' are advancing...
Keith Henson wrote:
> At 09:33 PM 19/06/03 -0400, Scott wrote:
>
>>> From: Chris Taylor <Christopher.Taylor@man.ac.uk>
>
>
> snip
>
>>> Btw the consensus was, I thought, that memetics was diametrically
>>> opposed to the gene=behaviour evopsycho jocks?
>>
>> Well there's gene-meme co-evolution. There may be ev-pychers and
>> sociobiologists who view memetics more favorably than others.
>
>
> I am frankly amazed at this view of the evolutionary psychology people
> when you can find in a few minutes research on Google that the same
> professors who teach one often teach both in the same course or have
> both as research interests.
>
> Memetics and Evolutionary Psychology (Week 3)
>
> http://www.icc.isr.umich.edu/evolculture2001syllabus.html
>
> Phil 708 -- Philosophical Psychology
> Topic: Meme Theory, Evolutionary Psychology, and Sociobiology
>
> http://www.unr.edu/philosophy/d708tn.html
>
> Psychology 452, Evolutionary Psychology
> Dr. Mills
> CULTURE / MEMETICS
> [] Summary and Powerpoint Presentation Boyer, P. (2000).
> Evolutionary Psychology and Cultural Transmission. American Behavioral
> Scientist, 43(6), 987-1000. Review by Ashleigh Anderson, Susie Boersma
> and Timothy Devereaux. Fall, 2002.
> [] Summary of Best, M. L. (1999). How culture can guide evolution:
> An inquiry into gene/meme enhancement and opposition. Adaptive Behavior,
> 7(3/4), 289-306. Review by Amanda Garrett & Stacey Smith. Fall, 2002.
>
> http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/faculty/mmills_fp/Evolpsyc/
>
> Evolutionary psychology's explanation of culture
> If evolutionary psychologists depart from the assumption that human
> beings have a brain which consists of specialized modules from which the
> content of their behavior derives, how then do the evolutionary
> psychologists look at culture? They claim that they can explain culture.
>
> Culture is quite important in the eyes of evolutionary psychologists.
> Humans are the only species "that has an extra medium of design
> preservation and design communication" (Dennett, 1991, p. 338). Culture
> "can swamp many - but not all - of the earlier genetic pressures and
> processes that created it and still coexist with it" (ibid.). The way
> evolutionary psychologist try to deal with culture has two aspects. One
> follows directly from the line of argument that starts with a critique
> of the general purpose machine, the other is developed as an analogue to
> genes. In the latter case, culture traits are turned into 'memes' to
> which the concepts 'variation', 'replication' and 'fitness' apply
> equally well as in genetic theory. Ideas of people tend to survive by
> using the individual as a reproductive device; a replica is made,
> sometimes with some variation, and once the whole thing fits into a
> certain environment, the idea carries on (Blackmore, 1999). Such is true
> for crucial inventions, a piece of music, a moral imperative, playing
> chess, and material things we cannot do without anymore (Dawkins, 1989).
> Memetics, as the science of memes is called, tries to explain cultural
> patterns this way, and tries to come to grips with persistent behaviors
> and ideologies. Dennett (1991, p. 353 ff.) in his enthusiasm for
> memetics, has pointed out that memes are conceptually useful and
> interesting, because of the analogy with genes. 'Gene' as a concept for
> information, does its work, irrespective of how it is materialized. What
> is important is its syntax-like structure which can be read off in order
> to create functional organs. The same holds for memes. They carry
> information irrespective of how they are materialized. The individual is
> merely the vehicle by means of which memes replicate themselves. In
> memetics one wants to get rid of the acting person in the same way as in
> evolutionary psychology in general, where algorithms and macro's take
> over the role of a conscious agent in order to do away with metaphysical
> categories like 'mind' and 'god'. Memes as cultural traits are
> self-preserving, using the individual mind as bearer of the traits.
> Memes are responsible for the persistence of certain traits, even those
> that do not directly favor the group in which those traits spread
> themselves around.
>
> http://members.shaw.ca/ncpg/voestermans_baerveldt.html
>
> Evolution & Psychology
> PG 6952B
> Fall 2000 M & W 11:00 - 12:15
> Professor: Dr. Peter Zachar
>
> Nov 20 Universal Darwinism?: The Science of Memetics
>
> http://sciences.aum.edu/pg/pzsyllab/evol.html
>
> I know (at least indirectly) a good number of the people in evolutionary
> psychology and associated areas and I can't think of one of them who is
> opposed to memetics, in fact, virtually all of them seem to think
> memetics is an important topic when evolutionary psychology is taught.
>
> There surely *are* genes that cause behaviors. "Waltzing" in mice was
> known to be a simple recessive gene over 50 years ago. Tourettes . . .
> . "It is genetically transmitted; parents having a 50% chance of passing
> the gene on to their children. Girls with the gene have a 70% chance of
> displaying symptoms, boys with the gene have a 99% chance of displaying
> symptoms." http://members.tripod.com/~tourette13/
>
> But with the exception of this class of movement disorders, I don't know
> of anyone in the evolutionary psychology area who thinks gene=behavior.
> Genes *do* shape psychological traits, motivating us to seek food and
> eat it when hungry, or the tendency social primates have to seek social
> rewards. But what you do to obtain social rewards varies from being a
> good hunter in a primitive society to being a rock star or a Noble Prize
> scientist in ours.
>
> Keith Henson
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ===============================================================
> 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
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