Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id TAA06975 (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 19:44:43 GMT Subject: Re: DNA Culture .... Trivia? Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 14:41:33 -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: <20010119194011.AAA464@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 01/19/01 14:31, Scott Chase said this-
>>Why are ideas important seeds?
>>
>Well let's explore the seed analogy. Would these seeds possess adaptations
>for aiding dispersal via wind or perhaps little pricklies helping a surface
>embedding onto the carrier to be planted in far off environs. Would some
>memetic seeds have juicy and tasty coverings which increase their likelihood
>of being consumed and dispersed with the resulting dung?
>Are there sporophyte and gametophyte stages? Is there meiosis and reduction
>division? Crossing over and recombination? Unequal crossing over leading to
>meme duplication? Jumping memes?
Yes, exactly. Time to identify the real, environmental and adaptive
features of these things, as active agents, for direct and directed
purposes.
Not that I am advocating such fierce analogical precision- quite the
contrary, although I applaud your poetic exercise.
>In a viral analogy, all memes would do is co-opt host
>machinery to facilitate more copies being made.
Which could also be explained without such an agent, quite
satisfactorily. Using Occam, there is no need for a viral meme, IMHO.
- Wade
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