Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA05051 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 19 Jan 2001 13:56:06 GMT Subject: Re: DNA Culture .... Trivia? Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 08:52:57 -0500 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: <20010119135133.AAA15767@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 01/18/01 08:26, Robin Faichney said this-
>Memes spread via behaviour.
Behaviors happen- whether or not something replicates during this, is,
IMHO, still to be proven. The fact of a behavior is not proof of a meme,
it is an action, and can, perhaps, remain a completely unmemetically
caused one until this meme thingee is actually found. And until it is,
the camp that doesn't want it, doesn't need it, and sees it as shaveable
by Occam's Razor can keep their tents up. If one camps with the
socio-biologists, this behavior is an adaptation dependent upon
environment- thus birdsong is an example, like termite's mounds and
spiders' webs, of changes due to genetic adaptibility to conditions, and
little, if nothing else.
It is the behavior itself of memetic propagation (mutation, transmission,
replication, genesis) I want more attention paid to- the 'sex' part of
memetic transmission- the behavior that starts by demanding a meme be
placed in another locale, and finds the way to do this. Is memetic sex
equally as male/female a system as genetic sex?
Why are ideas important seeds?
And, yes, I think science answers 'why' questions, and always has. It's
the only tool that can ask the real ones.
- Wade
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