Re: DNA Culture .... Trivia?

From: William Benzon (bbenzon@mindspring.com)
Date: Sun Jan 14 2001 - 13:42:10 GMT

  • Next message: Robin Faichney: "Re: DNA Culture .... Trivia?"

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    Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 08:42:10 -0500
    Subject: Re: DNA Culture .... Trivia?
    From: William Benzon <bbenzon@mindspring.com>
    To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
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    on 1/12/01 4:57 PM, Robin Faichney at robin@reborntechnology.co.uk wrote:

    > On Fri, Jan 12, 2001 at 09:42:42AM -0500, William Benzon wrote:
    >>
    >> Their favorite stories seem to be about religion and cultures. And the
    >> stories they tell indicate that they have a very shallow conception of human
    >> nature and society. The orthodox memetic position is that the most
    >> important thing about religion is that it is irrational. That's what they
    >> want to explain. How do they explain it? By saying those pesky memes are
    >> working juju on the minds of otherwise unsuspecting adults.
    >>
    >> That's a pathetic explanation. It tells me these people simply do not have
    >> any deep conception of human nature. They aren't interested in explaining
    >> human behavior. Rather, they want to explain it away by palming it off on
    >> memes.
    >
    > I think you're absolutely right regarding that "explanation" of religion
    > and the people who propound it. But I'd like to see you try to back up
    > your claim that it's "the orthodox memetic position".

    Are you suggesting that Dawkins, Dennett, Lynch, & Blackmore have something
    else to say on the matter?

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