Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA14202 (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 13:02:39 GMT From: <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 07:06:09 -0600 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: RE: Darwinian evolution vs memetic evolution Message-ID: <3A7FA261.14549.233D83D@localhost> In-reply-to: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745C3B@inchna.stir.ac.uk> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 6 Feb 2001, at 12:39, Vincent Campbell wrote:
> <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').
>
Individual choices do not seem to count for much in hegemonistic
collectives, except, that is, the choices of the leaders of them
(Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, etc.). In a representative democracy, a
vote doesn't seem to count for much, but less tha six hundred of
them in my home state decided who our leader would be for the
next four years, as well as the kinds of policies that will be followed
(and they are VERY different).
>
> 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).
>
That's why we have public TV and letters to the editor sections in
newspapers.
>
> You can choose Coke or Pepsi, but you have to pay, whichever one you
> choose.
>
So lunch ain't free; what else is new?
I prefer either RC or Jolt Cola; if I go a little out of my way, I can
find them, and do. Of course you have to move your legs to walk,
but in a free country you get to choose the direction in which you
travel.
>
> Vincent
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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>
>
===============================================================
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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