Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA14695 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 14 Jan 2001 20:39:23 GMT X-vSMTP: intekom.com Message-ID: <01be01c07e5e$eb1c4d20$8490ef9b@Intekom5001> From: "Dini" <dini@intekom.co.za> To: "MEMETICS" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <000901c07a55$ab7eda00$cc90ef9b@Intekom5001> <003e01c07ce2$5f4e6440$270abed4@default> Subject: Hi from Cape Town Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 19:56:40 +0200 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_013A_01C07E64.1C991E00" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
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Dear Kenneth,
Your letter was the surprise of the month! Funny how it all happened. Somehow I got into this memetics thing by a very long, roundabout way.
I am a Rosicrucian and at times write an article for our R+C Digest (US) or the R+C Beacon (UK).
Although AMORC (Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis) is (very much) inclined to advocate reincarnation, the members are not bound to accept it. I am one of those (few) that don't.
A friend of mine in Dallas, also a R+C, often does editing for me, and sent me some lines he quotes out of Douglas Klimesh's articles. I got into contact with Doug and he sent me everything he had (still have it on my hard-drive), with his permission to use whatever I felt suitable for my intended article, which at first I meant to call something like "Reincarnation v. Memory of the species". Once I had absorbed all of Doug's material, including the article you mentioned: "Meme storage in DNA", I finally finished the article under the title "The Quest of Genes and Memes". I also got a lot of material from books and papers by Francis Crick, Susan Blackmore, Adrian Gilbert, Robert Charroux, and even Paul Davies and Carl Sagan.
I sent it in to both magazines, but it must have been too controversial for a R+C publication, and so far has not appeared in print, while two of my previous articles did. As I am on quite friendly terms with both editors, maybe they don't want to sound nasty and tell me straight out that they cannot place it - whatever.
Being a Rosicrucian, my main interest in the Meme story was the esoteric side, or you could call it the psychic or metaphysical side. But when I wrote about it to the Memetics Group, I was told that you were the only one who held that kind of belief, and look here . . . I got a letter from you. How nice!
I do notice that the letters on the memetic group are all very scientific, and that the members are scientists like biologists and geneticists, etc. Talk about standing on the shoulders of giants . . . I feel myself amongst giants. Maybe I don't really belong in this group, and certainly won't be able to give much input into the conversations. Half the time I don't know what they are talking about, but I do find this completely (new to me) spectrum fascinating, and read all the letters from A - Z. That way I ought to learn a lot, not that it will change much to my point of view.
The best reason for that is that the members admit nobody has ever seen a meme, can describe it, know where it is situated, etc., etc. So there is still hope for my theory that memes are entirely non-physical. I am also awaiting the replies to your letter to the List.
If you are interested at all in my article, written by an utter amateur, please send me your private e-mail address.
And again many thanks for contacting me. By the way, I haven't written to Douglas for a long time, but if you would want to contact him again, his e-mail address is dougklim@provide.net
Best wishes,
Dini
PS Your surname is Dutch, but I presume your family came to America many generations ago. I am a first generation Dutch immigrant in SA. In which part of the US do you live?
D
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