Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id XAA22088 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 2 Sep 2001 23:45:35 +0100 Message-ID: <003901c13400$54db7f40$d387b2d1@teddace> From: "Dace" <edace@earthlink.net> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <F197HuICu0L885s30hI00002f45@hotmail.com> Subject: www.sheldrake.org Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2001 15:40:54 -0700 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 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-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> I can't claim originality on the point about isolation versus resonance
(via
> action at a distance). I vaguely recall somebody posting a question like
> that on Sheldrake's discussion group (found on his website), but I'd have
to
> look it up to be sure. I thought it important though, but Vince tapped my
> mnemon banks.
>
> Speaking of the www.sheldrake.org site, to reduce some of the recent
traffic
> here and liven up the discussion board there, it might be a good idea to
> move some of this particular discussion over there. Just a gentle
> suggestion.
Scott,
As you know, the Sheldrake discussion group degenerated into newage
chit-chat about a year ago. This past February the moderator of the website
launched an email discussion group called Morphic Fields. Having been
chased off Webtalk, I took refuge in the new list. For months, I tried to
keep the conversation on topic, but few people displayed much interest in
discussing Sheldrake, much less actually reading him. These people, many of
whom suffer from easily discernable mental disorders, are attracted to
Sheldrake because they think he's "far out." They'll say a few things about
the theory, mostly inaccurate, and then move on to extraterrestrials,
reincarnation, shamanism, and the equality of animals and people. The list
is now under the sway of a pathologically confused, messianic individual who
goes by the name of Anna M*. She's expressed nothing but hostility towards
Sheldrake and cannot even begin to comprehend his theory. She began posting
more and more, and in a last-ditch effort to save the discussion, I revealed
that Anna is a severe case of what's called Personality Disorder (as anyone
with a background in psychology can plainly see). But this only backfired.
In newage circles you're never supposed to say anything "aggressive." At
any rate, it's astonishing how quickly the group has turned into an Anna M*
admiration society. As far as I can tell, no one has mentioned Sheldrake
since I left the group. As usual what began as culture ended as cult.
I came upon the memetics list during a search on the group-psychology term,
"agentic," and ran across an excellent post by a former listmember here.
While I had no intention of bringing up Sheldrake on this list, his theory
is relevant to memetics. What he's done is to universalize the meme. Every
organic structure is a unit of memory which is strengthened each time it
gets copied. Morphic resonance allows for a unified theory of life,
bringing together physical and cultural units under the same basic mode of
propagation.
Ted
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