Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id TAA16227 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 18 Aug 2001 19:42:13 +0100 X-Originating-IP: [209.240.222.132] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: "Newage sewage" Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 14:38:16 -0400 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F246bh29cM3oryKFRJr0000b2d8@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 18 Aug 2001 18:38:16.0578 (UTC) FILETIME=[F1E3CE20:01C12814] Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>Subject: Re: "Newage sewage"
>Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 14:04:29 -0400
>
>
>
>
>
>>From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
>>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>>To: "Memetics Discussion List" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
>>Subject: Re: "Newage sewage"
>>Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 13:28:52 -0400
>>
>>Hi Joe -
>>
>> >> Okay, Wade. What is it about morphic resonance that makes it an
>> >> example of "idiocy?" In what way is it "spiritual" or "new age?" I'd
>> >> like to know.
>> >>
>> >Let fly, Wade; I cede the pleasure to you.
>>
>>Well, I've just come back from a totally tantric vacation high in the
>>California coastal mountains in the Russian River Valley/Sonoma County
>>area, so, I'm not ready for dealing with the 'spiritual' or 'newage'
>>idiocies, since I have no desire for any vitriolic fluids at this point.
>>I'll wait until I'm back at work for a few days....
>>
>>This is from the Skeptic's Dictionary, and can be found at
>>http://skepdic.com/morphicres.html
>>and the answer to the question at hand can be found in the last paragraph
>>of this entry.
>>
>>Sheldrake adds his doleful voice to the seemingly endless tirade of
>>noises banging about metaphysics.
>>
>>It is completely and totally part of the pseudoscience of all newage
>>beliefs, because morphic resonance is a religious add-in to nature,
>>another new god in the already deifically overburdened cosmos, another
>>incompetent witness, who, having really seen nothing, decides to save
>>time and energy with the invention of an intelligent designer, because,
>>one cannot have morphic resonance without a primal morphic resonator.
>>
>>The music of the spheres joins homeopathy in Sheldrake. Like many other
>>newage non-thinkers, he's made a royal hash of any possible empirical
>>evidence, and gone for the easy fix.
>>
>>Memetically, well, beliefs are the little virii we've failed to immunize
>>for.
>>
>>- Wade
>>
>>**********
>>
>>morphic resonance
>>
>>Morphic resonance is a term coined by Rupert Sheldrake for what he thinks
>>is "the basis of memory in nature....the idea of mysterious
>>telepathy-type interconnections between organisms and of collective
>>memories within species."
>>
>>Sheldrake has been trained in 20th century scientific models--he has a
>>Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cambridge University (1967)--but he prefers
>>Goethe and 19th century vitalism. Sheldrake prefers teleological to
>>mechanistic models of reality. Rather than spend his life, say, trying to
>>develop a way to increase crop yields, he prefers to study and think in
>>terms outside of the paradigms of science, i.e., inside the paradigms of
>>the occult and the paranormal. His latest book is entitled Dogs That Know
>>When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of
>>Animals. He prefers a romantic vision of the past to the bleak picture of
>>a world run by technocrats who want to control Nature even if that means
>>destroying much of the environment in the process. In short, he prefers
>>metaphysics to science, though he seems to think he can do the former but
>>call it the latter.
>>
>>'Morphic resonance' (MR) is put forth as if it were an empirical term,
>>but it is no more empirical than 'engram', L. Ron Hubbard's term for the
>>source of all mental and physical illness. The term is more on par with
>>the Stoic's notion of the Logos or Plato's notion of the eidos [eidos]
>>than it is with any scientific notion of laws of nature. What the rest of
>>the scientific world terms lawfulness--the tendency of things to follow
>>patterns we call laws of nature--Sheldrake calls morphic resonance. He
>>describes it as a kind of memory in things determined not by their
>>inherent natures, but by repetition. He also describes MR as something
>>which is transmitted via "morphogenic fields." This gives him a
>>conceptual framework wherein information is transmitted mysteriously and
>>miraculously through any amount of space and time without loss of energy,
>>and presumably without loss or change of content through something like
>>mutation in DNA replication. Thus, room is made for psychic as well as
>>psychical transmission of information. Thus, it is not at all necessary
>>for us to assume that the physical characteristics of organisms are
>>contained inside the genes, which may in fact be analogous to transistors
>>tuned in to the proper frequencies for translating invisible information
>>into visible form. Thus, morphogenetic fields are located invisibly in
>>and around organisms, and may account for such hitherto unexplainable
>>phenomena as the regeneration of severed limbs by worms and salamanders,
>>phantom limbs, the holographic properties of memory, telepathy, and the
>>increasing ease with which new skills are learned as greater quantities
>>of a population acquire them.*
>>
>>While this metaphysical proposition does seem to make room for telepathy,
>>it does so at the expense of ignoring Occam's razor. Phantom limbs, for
>>example, can be explained without adding the metaphysical baggage of
>>morphic resonance. So can memory, which does not require a holographic
>>paradigm, by the way. And, in my view, so can telepathy. The notion that
>>new skills are learned with increasing ease as greater quantities of a
>>population acquire them, known as the hundredth monkey phenomenon, is
>>bogus.
>>
>>In short, although Sheldrake commands some respect as a scientist because
>>of his education and degree, he has clearly abandoned science in favor of
>>theology and philosophy. This is his right, of course. However, his
>>continued pose as a scientist is unwarranted. He is one of a growing
>>horde of "alternative" scientists whose resentment at the aspiritual
>>nature of modern scientific paradigms, as well as the obviously harmful
>>and seemingly indifferent applications of modern science, have led them
>>to create their own paradigms. These paradigms are not new, though the
>>terminology is. These alternative paradigms allow for angels, telepathy,
>>psychic dogs, and hope for a future world where we all live in harmony
>>and love, surrounded by blissful neighbors who never heard of biological
>>warfare, nuclear bombs, or genetically engineered corn on the cob.
>>
>>SkepDic.com
>>
>>
>Oh dear. That the author of the above credits Hubbard with the term engram
>makes me a little concerned about his knowledge of the history behind this
>term. Crediting engrams to Hubbard is not unlike crediting morphogenetic
>fields to Sheldrake.
>
>My guess is that Sheldrake probably knows more of the history of the engram
>concept than the author of the above (and probably much more than I). As a
>matter of fact, Sheldrake lists Lashley's article "In search of the engram"
>AND Semon's book _The Mneme_ in the references section of his book _The
>Presence of the Past_.
>
>
Looking at this link:
http://www.skepdic.com/memory.html
it looks like the author realizes there's more behind the engram than what
it seemed above.
BTW, Schacter has re-released _Stranger behind the Engram_ as _Forgotten
Ideas, Neglected Pioneers: Richard Semon and the Story of Memory_ (2001.
Psychology Press. Philadelphia). He also has a new book called _The Seven
Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers_ (2001. Houghton Mifflin
Company, Boston) which collects dust on my shelf for now :-(
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