Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA13643 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 6 Feb 2001 12:40:57 GMT Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745C3B@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Darwinian evolution vs memetic evolution Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 12:39:44 -0000 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
<Freedom means that our emergent self-conscious awareness can
> exert causal control, not just over our bodies, but over our brains; in
> the short run, in the neuronal activity patterns (what we choose to
> think of, and how we choose to think of it (memory, anticipation,
> directed perception, abstract cognition, etc.)) influences what parts
> of our brain are more used (and PET scans bear this out), and in
> the long run, the free-will motivated continued usage of some
> neuronal pathways rather than others selectively strengthens and
> myelinizes them (by virtue of the electrochemical activity of the
> neurons being utilized stimulating production of the myelination-
> facilitating MAP-2 protein on site).>
>
Freedom, and free will, are not singular concepts that have only one
meaning, and the one you give above is just one part of it.
That's partly what Robin means when he says 'in some senses'. My
suspicisions over free will stem from the concept's treatment in political
philosophy, and if one takes a Marxist perspective on contemporary
capitalist democracy, then one can see quite clearly the illusion of choice
and free will that people think they exercise within those societies (caught
up in the concept of 'false consciousness').
Another area would be in my own field, where debates about the
fundamental changes to broadcasting in the transition to digital
technologies are often draped in the rhetoric of providing greater consumer
choice than the traditional public service systems of many European nations.
Here the illusion of choice comes not in one's freedom to choose Sky TV or
On Digital, but in whether or not the broadcast audience should be treated
as consumers in the first place (as opposed to citizens, with broadcasting
seen as an important civic space that commodification inherently
undermines).
You can choose Coke or Pepsi, but you have to pay, whichever one you
choose.
Vincent
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