Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA07068 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 21 Mar 2001 03:09:20 GMT Subject: Re: The Demise of a Meme Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 22:04:52 -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 Discussion List" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20010321030450.AAA5732@camailp.harvard.edu@[205.240.180.85]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Hi Dave Gross -
>Someone may have already turned you on to this, but you might want to check
>out David Hull's "Science as a Process"
>(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226360512/booksirecommen/) which
>is a good study of how science operates through memes.
"Hull shows that bias, personal commitments, and self-interest are the
norm in science."
Oh, I would never disagree that the study, the academic process, the
institutions, the language, the dissemination, of scientific knowledge is
not memetic, but, I would argue, perhaps to my death, that the actual
acquisition of scientific knowledge is a process of individual
memelessness- admittedly memelessness in the right place at the right
time.
Because, you see, I equate science with creativity. And the actual act of
creation I see as memeless, necessarily.
And for the most part, I am very happy with the memes that have grown up
around science and creativity, much happier than I am with the memes that
have grown up around power and politics.
That science leads to truth is something I hold unalterable. If this is
my main meme, so be it. I am stuck with it. It will not budge. It has
grown and matured within me, and explained itself to me on countless
occasions, when all else have layed down in fatigue or anger.
- Wade
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