Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id HAA03897 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 19 Jun 2001 07:31:49 +0100 X-Sender: rrecchia@mail.clarityconnect.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: Ray Recchia <rrecchia@mail.clarityconnect.com> Subject: Re: La memetique a-t-elle change votre vie / Has memetics changed your life ? Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 02:33:21 -0400 Message-ID: <1219190095-39054179@mail.clarityconnect.com> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
I first encountered the 'meme' as an undergraduate biology major. At the
time I was immersed in learning about the complicated and alien world that
is life. I learned that 9 out of 10 cells in my body were bacteria, that a
zygote was just a gamete's way of making another gamete, and that there was
a millionfold difference in brightness between being outside in the noonday
sun and the lighting in my dorm room at night. I learned that the wood
patch in the back of the biology building was in its own way as complicated
as a major city.
My first encounter with the meme put human civilization into the framework
of what I was learning in biology. Memes made human civilization an
outgrowth of the same evolutionary processes that resulted in the
complexities of life. If the meme was analogous to a gene then human
cultural life had the potential to become as complex and diverse as
biological life. The discovery of genetic engineering made it possible
that cultural evolution might supplant genetic evolution, and the concept of
the meme made that possible usurpation part of a process as natural as
photosynthesis.
It was powerful stuff.
Raymond Recchia
At 10:00 AM 6/16/2001 +0200, you wrote:
>Hello, friends.
>
>My name is Pascal. I am a french memeticist (are their any others ?). I try
>to write as good an english as I can, but if any of you are french-speaking,
>(as I have noticed Vincent is, on the Bourdieu issue), they might
>occasionnally help me convey some subtleties. The job I live on (since I am
>not a university researcher) is consulting for large companies, and
>especially fostering mass cultural and behavioral changes. But this is not
>today's issue.
>
>I would like to make a quick survey among people interested in memetics. If
>you care to give a short answer, this will allow me to make the question
>more precise.
>
>My hypothesis is that once you start thinking memetics, your world view
>cannot be the same anymore. If you follow Susan Blackmore's reasoning, your
>idea of the self is changed. If you follow Richard Brodie (Hi, Richard if
>you are reading this) it even can lead you to a further development of your
>personality.
>You probably have noticed that most authors on the subject end their books
>by a very dizzying 'facing-mirrors-like' reflexion about 'how we are going
>to live, now that we know '.
>
>So to come to the point, my question is :
>
>'Since you started to know about memetics, how has your inner life changed ?
>Do you behave differently ? Do you relate to others differently ? Do you
>practice 'weeding' ?'
>
>Thank you for any contributions.
>Pascal
>A bientot sur / see you soon on
>www.contagions.com (french memetics website)
>Tell your friends / parlez-en à vos amis
>
>
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