Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA05847 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 9 Mar 2001 14:24:36 GMT Subject: Re: Are there any memes out there? Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 09:20:35 -0500 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20010309142039.AAA29245@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 03/09/01 00:06, Lloyd Robertson said this-
>While we can say that most of these memes come from other people or
>artifacts the fact is new memes may be generated without this influence and
>without the conscious effort of the individual to create same
And it may be useful for sorting out purposes to _only_ look at memetic
(cultural behavior) processes vs. genetic (innate behavior) processes in
these "non-conscious" instances of acquisition, assuming there is some
way to determine this state. (Bearing in mind, of course, that such
investigation could well show us that there are no memetic processes
whatsoever, in that the processes of mind and development present us with
a human species for whom no such addendum process is required.)
I know I made a conscious effort to get one eyebrow to rise a la Mr.
Spock's 'fascinating...', but I don't remember any instance where I used
any force to start saying 'there it is', which is something I'm told I do
to excess these days, one of those instances in which it takes an outside
observer to make one notice one's own quirks.
Then again, what is 'new' in any of these conditions?
Memes seem to be active only in the passage of 'old' things, not, IMHO,
in the creation of 'new' things. Which means, yes, that I don't
personally think that memetic processes are involved in anything but
ancillary ways to the creative process.
Memes would seem to be indexers in the library of memory, not the writers
of the works therein.
- Wade
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