From: Richard Brodie (richard@brodietech.com)
Date: Fri 13 Feb 2004 - 07:20:44 GMT
John Wilkins wrote:
> As it happens, I think memetics has some underlying
> problems, but they do not arise out of the analogy of
> cultural evolution to biological evolution.
> They arise out of a philosophical tendency to objectify
> abstractions such as "gene". I have already argued in my
> major JoM article that what counts in evolution of culture is
> any entity at any level, above and beyond the individual if
> necessary, that is subjectible to selection.
Yes.
> Memes can be social institutions in my opinion. Or they can
> be fragments of ideas in single heads.
Out of respect for the coiners of the word I didn't use "meme" to refer to
all of these cultural replicators, just the simple ones (fragments of ideas
in people's heads). I used other terms to refer to more complex replicators.
Unfortunately there continues to be much confusion about the definition of
"meme." What a territorial battle!
Glad to have you back.
Richard Brodie
www.memecentral.com
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