Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id AAA03226 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 10 Feb 2001 00:20:13 GMT X-Originating-IP: [209.240.220.143] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: RE: Darwinian evolution vs memetic evolution Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2001 19:17:38 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F20ogupahSO7ZVNBymp00015ba4@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 10 Feb 2001 00:17:38.0876 (UTC) FILETIME=[E04767C0:01C092F6] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
>Subject: RE: Darwinian evolution vs memetic evolution
>Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 17:31:08 -0000
>
> >> most memetic mutations must occur not within a mind but between
>minds
>
> <I'm not so sure - where do most 'new' ideas come from? I'd say
>those
> > that arise as a result of miscopying between actors are a minority (but
> > I wouldn't like to put a figure on it); it seems to me that the majority
> > of novel memes come from the interactions between resident memes in a
> > mind (or in a group 'think tank' style, 'bouncing' ideas around [a
> > metamind?]). Although the overwhelming bulk of these come originally
> > from outside, the change seems (to me) to occur within a mind rather
> > than in transfer. After all we have the old thing about whether two
> > people can ever have the 'same' meme, because if you break it down they
> > will have used different resident info to model the idea which is being
> > transferred.>
> >
> Well, there are clear examples of behaviours emerging out of highly
>suspect interpretations of external recorded information, such as the snake
>handling christian sects that base their practices on what is, to any sane
>person, a woeful misreading of the last few verses of Mark's gospel- verses
>which historians aren't convinced even belong there anyway (since the two
>earliest known manuscripts of this gospel don't include these verses- check
>your bible to see if it mentions this, many editions do). Of course they
>think they're doing god's bidding as laid down in the divine word of the
>bible, but that doesn't mean they've accurately inferred what Mark was
>trying to get across. (that's Mark the disciple, and not Mark Mills of this
>list :-)).
>
>
Don't these snake-handler go into some strange trance as they hold pit
vipers (ie-rattlesnakes in U.S.). My recollection is that they drink
strychnine too, but maybe in amounts not quite fatal but with neurotropic
effects.
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