Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA08306 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 17 Apr 2001 18:16:23 +0100 Message-ID: <01f001c0c761$6f4c4b40$6c5d2a42@jrmolloy> From: "J. R. Molloy" <jr@shasta.com> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745DA1@inchna.stir.ac.uk> Subject: Re: memes and sexuality Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 10:11:22 -0700 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: "Vincent Campbell" <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk>
> I still tend to regard this as conditioned behaviour at this point
> in time, i.e. how parents and others shape children's play. Afer all both
> dolls and guns are cultural constructions, that we're not genetically
> programmed to understand in terms of usage.
According to John Stossel ("Give Me A Break" on 20/20), in households that do
not provide infant boys with toy guns or any kind of toy weaponry (politically
correct pacifists we assume?), the boys use bananas, cucumbers, sticks, or any
object that can be used to point as a substitute for a gun. They aim and add
sound effects. They do this despite conditioning against it. As this behavior
could be prompted by genetic rather than memetic cues, I suspect it
illustrates how genes help to direct memes.
> What I think this old thread was about, from my point of view, was
> the possibilty that genders have differential languages skills, or
> differential involvement in the development of language, and subsequently
> cultural behaviours, potentially implied by the research showing these
> different abilities in young children.
I suppose language skills comprise some components of gendered memes, since
females are better at language than are males. Furthermore, genetics may play
important roles in determinining resistance to certain memes. For example,
cursory observation reveals men have a higher threshold to religious
propaganda, but once they fall for it, they go whole hog. Sexual dimorphism
seems to me to extend to memetics quite readily. But maybe I've fallen prey to
the sexism meme. τΏτ
--J. R.
Useless hypotheses:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism
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