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On Tue, Jan 09, 2001 at 01:40:47PM +0200, Dini wrote:
>>>>>> Hi there,
I wonder if I got the idea of Memes correct.<<<<<<
Yes, except for a couple of points...
>>>>>>> .........Just two people meeting in the street and looking at one
>another will transfer memes. <<<<<<<
No, they probably won't. The minimum requirement for memetic transmission
is information transfer via behaviour. And though memes are items of
information rather than physical things, they have to be carried by,
or as I like to say encoded in, physical things. Mainly, brain states,
patterns of behaviour, and artefacts such as books.
But they probably might. Who is to say? If someone's stance or appearance impresses somebody else, that person may try and copy it and so make it part of his/her personality.
>>>>>> This acquired characteristics (Lamarque would have loved this) become part of the Personality, AND MAY THEN WELL BE TRANSFERRED TO FUTURE GENERATIONS in the form of genes in the DNA. <<<<<<<
Absolutely not. This goes against all current theory and findings in
the relevant disciplines. I know of only one person who believes this,
and I can't understand why he clings to it. While there are certainly
many fascinating meme/gene interactions, their transmission paths remain entirely separate: genes through biological reproduction, and memes through behaviour and/or artefacts. There is neither any evidence for, nor any theory regarding how it would happen, that memes could become encoded in the genes and transmitted with them.
Not even as a required characteristic? Behaviour, even acquired behaviour, becomes eventually ingrained, and must therefore affect
the structure of one's physical body. IMHO there is much more going on inside our physical being than can be described by biological science alone. (Maybe I should have said: "By way of" DNA.)
I would love to hear from the gentleman you said was the only one supporting my idea, and sticking to it. :>)
Dini
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