Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id HAA07541 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 27 Jan 2001 07:28:28 GMT X-Originating-IP: [209.240.220.191] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Memes and emotions Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2001 02:25:37 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F63R3oyoiJhU94mENOP00003ddf@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 27 Jan 2001 07:25:37.0654 (UTC) FILETIME=[583D7960:01C08832] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: Chris Taylor <Christopher.Taylor@man.ac.uk>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>Subject: Re: Memes and emotions
>Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 12:01:47 +0000
>
>It's the old view of the world (started with the Greeks and only really got
>altered
>by the Enlightenment-era French biologists such as Cuvier: There is a
>hierarchy with
>slime at the bottom and angels in heaven at the top; we come just below
>angels (these
>were religious people - angels exist [no joke!], and are better than
>mortals), then
>(roughly) animals, plants, mould and finally dirt (officially dead). This
>is the
>classic linearised classification system as adopted from the Greeks by
>Christianity.
>Linnaeus and Cuvier were instrumental in moving towards a more realistic
>branched
>'Tree of life', on the way to a modern view.
>
>I (flippantly) used the image because it assisted in the point I was trying
>to make
>that memes only work well in us (recombining parts of ideas), the next link
>down the
>great chain is where they can imitate well but not 'think' as we do, then
>you get
>down to individual learners who do not share experience (paralelling the
>argument
>about asexual clonal reproduction being far inferior to sexual), and
>finally the
>hard-wired often non-neural behaviour of simple organisms.
>
>Gotta go to a meeting - hope that covers it all!
>
Thanks for the explication. I also faintly remember the scala naturae.
Perhaps the 'tree of life' is likewise a misrepresentation of phylogenetic
reality. Trees typically have long linear trunks with minimal adventitious
branching before the crown is reached. A bush or shrub might be better, but
with talk about horizontal transfer way back when, there's some possible
early anastomoses or cobwebbing which complicates the bush even. This gets
far beyond my comfort zone.
My main point is that I frown on scales, especially those crowning us, a
mere twig with an overblown ego.
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Jan 27 2001 - 07:30:26 GMT