RE: Memetic transfer in non-humans

From: Vincent Campbell (v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk)
Date: Wed Feb 21 2001 - 10:26:38 GMT

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    From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk>
    To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
    Subject: RE: Memetic transfer in non-humans
    Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 10:26:38 -0000
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    Hi Brent,

    I was rather put off by an overly-glowing review on Amazon, and partly by it
    sounding a bit like his 'lucifer principle' which I mentioned on the list
    before. I do think he's an interesting writer though, so I may check this
    out following your recommendation.

    Vincent

    > ----------
    > From: Brent Silby
    > Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 9:12 pm
    > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > Subject: Memetic transfer in non-humans
    >
    > Greetings all,
    > I have not contributed for quite some time, but I am enjoying the
    > exchanges taking place.
    >
    > I am currently reading Howard Bloom's "Global Brain". It is well written
    > and is a fascinating hypothesis on the development of human society. He
    > takes a holistic view of the development of society, which I am skeptical
    > of -- I still think reductionism is the way to go. Nevertheless, his
    > theory seems to be supported by the huge amount of evidence he has
    > collected.
    >
    > One of the things I found most interesting was evidence of memetic
    > transfer in animals. I have recently argued that memes were pretty much
    > restricted to the domain of human minds (along with a few primate species
    > and birds), but Bloom has pointed to evidence of memes in a number of
    > other species. One of his examples was of an octopus that imitated the
    > behavior of another octopus (a non-innate behavior) and assimilated it
    > into its own behavioral repertoire.
    >
    > Has anyone else read the book (I know Richard Brodie has)?
    >
    > Brent.
    > ------------------------
    > Brent Silby 2001
    > Memetics Research
    > and Engineering Project
    >
    > [Feel free to visit my sites]
    > [BasePage]: http://www.geocities.com/brent_silby
    > [Collective Intelligence]:
    > http://globeclubs.theglobe.com/the_collective-L/list.taf
    >
    > Room 601a
    > Department of Philosophy
    > University of Canterbury
    > Email: b.silby@phil.canterbury.ac.nz
    > __________________________________________
    >
    >

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