Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA24635 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 16 Mar 2001 15:03:57 GMT Subject: Technology/culture/memetics Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 10:00:08 -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: <20010316150013.AAA11020@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 03/16/01 08:33, Vincent Campbell said this-
>Is the wheel, say, not a meme in some sense?
"Oh, that's all well and good, Mr. Wise Guy, but what color should it be?
Huh?"*
No, IMHO, the wheel (and any simple machine which explores a facet of
nature) is not a meme in any respect. And I will repeat, because it's as
near as I've gotten to this -
>Technology however, in some way I cannot comprehend, is not memetic. I
>clutch at environmental, but that is not adequate either. The link
>between technology and culture may actually be memetics.
Technology, to paraphrase Robin, is not the problem.... It is a given,
and it changes, and it needs to be dealt with and it deals, but it is
more part of a memetic environment than part of a memetic process. I
think....
Creating a wheel is thus, in my muddled thinking, outside of culture.
Putting the wheel on a wagon, though, is memetic. So is painting it red.
- Wade
*Spoken by the Marketing Director of the B Ark to Ford Prefect, after he
burbled in frustration that the crashed crew had not, in many months,
even started to use the wheel, from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams.
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