introducing myself

From: J. Goard (wyattoil@foothill.net)
Date: Sat Apr 14 2001 - 20:44:30 BST

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Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 12:44:30 -0700
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: "J. Goard" <wyattoil@foothill.net>
Subject: introducing myself
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Hi, folks. I thought I'd introduce myself to your forum, although I
probably won't be posting much at all through this next busy quarter...

I'm 25 years old (or rather, my brain is; not sure when *I* appeared).
This December I'll have a B.A. in linguistics and philosophy from U.C.
Davis. I'm one of those omnivorous students who always seem to take too
long as undergrads. I've been familiar with memetics for several years,
only recently looking for useful applications in explaining linguistically
inaccurate ideas that impact linguistics, such as: 1) the idea that a
particular language or language in general are in a state of structural
degeneration, 2) inaccurately strong versions of linguistic relativity
(i.e. the "Whorf hypothesis") in the public and in academia outside
linguistics, 3) severe misconceptions about dialect in many police
departments and legal institutions.

I'm also a tournament Scrabble player, and therefore interested in the way
a human mind/brain handles this rather complex problem-solving environment.
One could measure, for example, the eye movements and brain activity of
"ordinary" people versus seasoned tournament players in solving certain
anagrams. One of things that really stands out is the tendency to look at
certain "attractive" patterns over and over, after they have failed to
yield a solution. I give new club players racks like AAELMOT and ABELINS*
and watch how they move the tiles, and invariably see the -ATE or -INE
ending several times; when I force them to go through the permutations
semi-exhaustively (I don't expect them to try starting a word with TM-),
they usually find the words in a much shorter time than they spent
originally. I'm guessing you all can think of the evolutionary
implications as well as I can, so I won't bother you with a boringly basic
elaboration.

Anyway, I enjoy your ideas and expect to learn quite a bit from this group.
Now, back to work...

*OATMEAL, LESBIAN

---------------------------------------------------
J. Goard, jjgoard@ucdavis.edu/wyattoil@foothill.net
e-gold account #100592 (www.e-gold.com)
---------------------------------------------------
The Beyond outside us is indeed swept away, and the
great undertaking of the Enlightenment complete;
but the Beyond *inside* us has become a new heaven
and calls us to renewed heaven-storming.
--Max Stirner
---------------------------------------------------

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