From: Chris Taylor (Christopher.Taylor@man.ac.uk)
Date: Fri 20 Jun 2003 - 23:21:42 GMT
Sorry. Gotta correct my tired self -
> Evolutionary psychology holds that *genes* (i.e. innate stuff from
encoded bits of brain 'ROM') affect behaviour to a
> meaningful degree (different practitioners draw the line differently,
> pinker is a sneaky smiling man who talks a lot of sense but insists on
> polluting it with caveman twaddle). Memetics doesn't need that. It is
> not inconceivable that we could demarcate the tiny basal bits of innate
> behaviour, then we know where we are with the rest.
Chris Taylor wrote:
> Evolutionary psychology holds that the brain affects behaviour to a
> meaningful degree (different practitioners draw the line differently,
> pinker is a sneaky smiling man who talks a lot of sense but insists on
> polluting it with caveman twaddle). Memetics doesn't need that. It is
> not inconceivable that we could demarcate the tiny basal bits of innate
> behaviour, then we know where we are with the rest.
>
> Richard Brodie wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>
>> ===============================================================
>> 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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