From: Dace (edace@earthlink.net)
Date: Sat 24 Jan 2004 - 21:55:54 GMT
> From: M Lissack <lissacktravel@yahoo.com>
>
> Darwin mechanics can be tested.
> The meme as replicator mechanics
> cannot.
The mechanism of natural selection is tested exactly the same way as the
mechanism by which memes are selected-- through case studies in the
historical record. For instance, mammals were better adapted than dinosaurs
to the earth's climate 65 million years ago due to a meteorite impact that
resulted in reduced vegetation growth.
There's no other way to test whether or not evolution proceeds according to
environmental selection. You simply have to match up species adaptations
with the environments that existed at the time the adaptations were made.
So too, the adaptations of memes must be matched up with changes in the
cultural environment. The meme itself is not the replicator mechanism but
the cultural environment.
Ted
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