Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id XAA00434 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 2 Feb 2001 23:58:13 GMT X-Sender: rrecchia@mail.clarityconnect.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: Ray Recchia <rrecchia@mail.clarityconnect.com> Subject: Re: memes and emotions Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 18:57:20 -0500 Message-ID: <1230964256-21971544@mail.clarityconnect.com> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
In "The Selfish Gene" Dawkins speaks of memes and memeticly based systems
arising from a role as tools of geneticly evolving organisms in the same way
that Cairns-Smith speculated that Ribonucleic acids arose as tools of
evolving clay crystals. Eventually, so the theory goes, ribonucleic acids
became independant evolvers and left the clay crystals behind. Certainly
the implication was present in Dawkin's work that at some point memes might
come to be independant of genes.
Up until the last century genetic systems exerted more control over memetic
systems than the reverse. Edward O. Wilson wrote of a "leash" on which
genes must keep memes. Genetic evolution will favor organisms that produce
memes that enhance the production of genes. If memes arise that disfavor
genetic reproduction, genetic evolution will give rise to organisms that
have propensities against producing them.
With the advent of genetic engineering the "leash" that E.O. Wilson spoke of
has almost certainly been broken. When the design of genes can be thought up
and manifest themselves as memes, then genes become the byproduct of memes.
Viewed in this fashion, the emergence of genetic engineering marks an
evolutionary turning point, as significant if not more than the emergence of
aerobic respiration or the sudden diversity of life during the Cambrian
explosion.
(more at the bottom)
Scott Chase wrote:
>
>
>
>
> >From: Ray Recchia <rrecchia@mail.clarityconnect.com>
> >Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> >To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> >Subject: Re: Memes and emotions
> >Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 01:43:58 -0500
> >
> >When I was a child I was taught that there were 5 taxonomic kingdoms -
> >bacteria,protozoa,plants,animals and fungi. Later, they decided they
> >decided certain organisms put in the same category as bacteria were
> much
> >different than their relatives, so they added another layer and we
> ended up
> >with Domains of Eucarya, Bacteria, and Archaea. With memes, I wonder
> >whether we can add yet another layer of living organism on top of
> Domains -
> >call it the Empires of Memes and Genes.
> >
> Yipes. I wouldn't support the idea of "memes" as living organisms and I
> hardly think they deserve their own taxonomic designation.
> >
> >I like to think of humans as genetic organisms in symbiosis with
> memetic
> >organisms much like our ancestor protozoans that became the host for
> >mitochondrial bacteria.
> >
> Well, at least mitochondria are tangible.
>
> I don't see much of a chasm between humans and other apes (other chimps
> even- sensu Jared Diamond??). Mayr (in _This is Biology_) contrasts
> Diamond's "third chimp" view with that of Julian Huxley who erected a
> separate kingdom for humans called Psychozoa. Maybe you might call your
> memetic organisms "psychozoans".
>
I think that it's been gone over before but it seems clear that human
language and the symbol manipulation human language allows us make us a much
more viable environment for the evolution of memes. While geneticly we are
very close to other primates, the few differences in our minds create a vast
gap which visibly manifests itself in the overwhelming impact we have had
upon the global environment in the last 10,000 years.
I think psychozoans is cute but perhaps would be a bit inaccurate. An
organism is a collection of genes that reproduce as a unit simultaneously.
In memetic reproduction the complementary memes in a memeplexe need not be
reproduced all at once.
Raymond O. Recchia
===============================================================
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 Feb 03 2001 - 00:00:11 GMT