Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA17178 (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 18:07:15 GMT Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 09:55:11 -0800 From: Bill Spight <bspight@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: Darwinian evolution vs memetic evolution To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Message-id: <3A803A7F.1FCB3AF3@pacbell.net> Organization: Saybrook Graduate School X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en]C-CCK-MCD {Yahoo;YIP052400} (Win95; U) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit X-Accept-Language: en References: <Pine.LNX.4.10.10102031727280.4738-100000@sushrut.sgpgi.ac.in> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Dear Able,
> I would say that the essential difference between Darwinian evolution
> and the evolution of memes is that in Genetic evolution there is no
> conscious choice by the participating players (the subjects who are
> evolving) while there is definitely conscious or subconscious involved
> choosing whether a meme is imitated or for that matter whether a new meme
> is created, sort of Lamarckian so to say.
But in memetic evolution the evolving entities (memes) do not engage in
conscious or subconscious choice, either. Human beings make choices that
affect the survivability and replicability of memes. The role of memes
in those choices is an interesting question, but the memes themselves do
not exercise choice.
I agree that memetic evolution is Lamarckian, because environmental
changes are passed on by imitation. In Dawinian evolution the germ line
is protected from the environment (except for cosmic rays and such) in a
way that is not the case with memes.
Best regards,
Bill
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