Re: Durkheim redux

From: Bill Spight (bspight@pacbell.net)
Date: Sun 10 Apr 2005 - 15:56:34 GMT

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    Dear Scott,

    > Someone could argue that given our limited cognitive
    > resources ideas could compete for space *within* our
    > noggins.

    Well, I don't know if we want to talk about *ideas* as the competitive entities, but there is certainly competition within the brain. The most dramatic example is the massive loss of neurons during development. Calvin, in "The Cerebral Code", hypothesizes competition between
    "ensemble patterns" (as I expect you are aware).

    (BTW, Aunger seems to have derived his idea of the "electric meme" from Calvin. "The Cerebral Code" is in his bibliography, but he does not cite it. Calvin makes sense to me, Aunger doesn't.)

    Best,

    Bill

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