From: Robin Faichney (robin@mmmi.org)
Date: Sun 24 Jul 2005 - 09:36:35 GMT
Friday, July 22, 2005, 3:23:51 AM, Scott wrote:
> --- Chris Taylor <christ@ebi.ac.uk> wrote:
>> ? No that is a general summary.
>>
>> Thank you Captain Ad Hominem. Try _reading into_
>> what was said,
>> as a whole. I can provide you with a lower wattage
>> version if
>> required..?
>>
>> What gets memetics a bad name is the lack of true
>> analysis or
>> predictive power. And unhelpful nonsense like yours.
>>
> OK guys lets take it down a notch or two. Robin rarely
> posts here anymore, so don't go chasing him way with
> the 'tude :-)
Thanks for the consideration, Scott, but I'll probably be posting a
bit more often in the future, and it would take more than that to put
me off.
> As far as EP goes, maybe there's some religiosity
> module at play that get people really into Biblical
> literalism and makes them feel compelled to impose
> their maxim as a law upon the rest of society (a
> little Kant here I think). Or maybe the emergence of
> religion is a spandrel instead, but still with the
> same outcome in the case of how fundies react to what
> they see as socially corrupting forces.
While I'm open to some EP ideas, religious (and other forms of)
fundamentalism seem better explained by pandemic neuroticism. A
substantial proportion of the population experiences chronic anxiety,
and that is one symptom that can, in certain kinds of case, be
successfully treated by religious conversion: Jesus died for my sins, he
is my shepherd, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. The
release from guilt and general anxiety is such a profound experience
that it becomes the only answer to all the world's problems, instead
of just a solution to my biggest problem.
Neuroticism is pandemic due to unhealthy attitudes, opinions and
lifestyles, such as religious fundamentalism (but emphatically not
only that). It first instills guilt and anxiety, telling you you're a
sinner and will go to hell, and then provides a dramatic catharsis in
the experience of being "born again": rather a successful strategy.
-- Best regards, Robin mailto:robin@mmmi.org =============================================================== 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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