Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id TAA09457 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 5 Feb 2001 19:35:47 GMT From: <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 13:39:18 -0600 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: Darwinian evolution vs memetic evolution Message-ID: <3A7EAD06.3791.B6A566@localhost> In-reply-to: <20010205190534.A763@reborntechnology.co.uk> References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745C35@inchna.stir.ac.uk>; from v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk on Mon, Feb 05, 2001 at 02:45:49PM -0000 X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 5 Feb 2001, at 19:05, Robin Faichney wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 05, 2001 at 02:45:49PM -0000, Vincent Campbell wrote: >
> >> Seeing free will or choice as the determinant of memes thus > is
> not > > >> the full picture. > > > <I think it's worth noting, even
> if you don't agree, that some, such > as > > Blackmore, would suggest
> that it's memes that give (the illusion of) > > free will.> > > > I
> agree that is worth noting, and for my money one is also one of > the
> most interesting things Blackmore's book says. I'm not sure I agree >
> with her position, but I've always been rather suspicious of free
> will.
>
> I'm an absolutely convinced compatabilist, myself. When the concepts
> are properly understood, and differences between alternative
> explanatory frameworks are fully realised, the naive realist position
> that free will has to be either an objective fact or pure illusion is
> left far behind -- we can see that we're free in some senses and not
> in others.
>
We're neither absolutely free nor absolutely determined; Sartre's
position of absolute freedom was refuted by Merleau-Ponty, who
stated that freedom could only manifest itself within a field of
unfreedom with which it could be compared and contrasted -
otherwise, both terms are rendered bereft of meaning, since they
only derive meaning from each other, as correlative opposites
concerning one's lived situation. We are free to type emails, but
not free to teleport ourselves to Mars.
>
> But to come back to memetics, Dawkins introduced the meme to explain
> behaviour that cannot be explained genetically, and the potential
> explanatory power of that concept is too great to allow any diversion
> onto other tracks: the meme-gene axis cannot be defeated! But we
> remain free to avert our eyes. ;-)
>
> PS I'm sure that everyone on the list will be thrilled to learn that
> Robin's Information website will be available again Real Soon Now!
>
> (Meanwhile, don't bother to visit www.reborntechnology.co.uk. One of
> the reasons Information isn't going back online immediately is a delay
> regarding the new domain name.)
>
> --
> Robin Faichney
> robin@reborntechnology.co.uk
>
> ===============================================================
> 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 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
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