Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA09887 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 20 Sep 2000 13:47:43 +0100 Subject: RE: memetics and knowledge Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 08:44:41 -0400 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas est veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20000920124441.AAA11300@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 09/20/00 03:55, Vincent Campbell said this-
>Where on earth did you get the idea that I "took the side" of the mystical
>bicycle?
My reading of all of this would say that you take the side that would
appreciate some _offer_ of a 'mystical bicycle' - that you would
appreciate something that claimed to offer secrets of the universe to
supply some model of the workings of the universe - that a scientific
claim (a claim about the natural, not the supernatural) offer some form
of replication and testing.
Robin has offered the techniques of meditation - not, admittedly,
mysticism as we understand it, but, ne'ertheless, methods offered by
mystics. (Well, they are offered as well in Harvard's teaching hospitals,
but, hell, who's noticing that when there are mystics about...?) There
are health benefits, 'well-being' benefits, to lots of relaxation
techniques.
The problem remains that the claims of mystics - to have 'felt' the
workings of the inner mysteries of the universe, range far from these
humble health benefits, and, while some of the effects of this tangent
with the unknown are inductable with drugs and deprivation states, such
mental states are _in extremis_ .
If mysticism is a state we all can reach _in extremis_, then perhaps
there is an ethical consideration....
We all fall off of our first bicycle....
- Wade
===============================================================
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
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Sep 20 2000 - 13:49:12 BST