Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA25110 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 2 Oct 2001 13:46:32 +0100 Subject: Re: What/Who selects memes? Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 08:40:30 -0400 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20011002124123.AAA16872@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 10/02/01 05:34, salice said this-
>My basic question is what the brain does to make me like a certain
>song, piece of art, worldview etc. while others don't like it. And
>this is selection in my eyes.
Your basic question then is one of aesthetics, and that is a branch of
philosophy that I've always wanted to combine with memetics, and
genetics, and microbiology, and then with neurophysiology, and then, who
knows, and then, voila, consilience...!
Well, that's my ideal science program in the sky.
The strange fact is, there are a lot of universally enjoyed noises and
images. Just because you personally don't like Picasso's blue period
right now, nevertheless, you might be attracted to the general blueness
of it, and, given enough instruction and knowledge about painting and the
cultural environment, and your willingness to learn, not only might you
get to like it, but, you might start wanting to get others to like it,
mostly because of the other areas of knowledge and experience the study
of this artifact opened for you. (Which is all why I fail to see any good
in stifling the availability of knowledge, especially with dogmatic
supernatural explanations.)
But the very universality of musics and images and colors and textures
cannot be ignored, any more than the universality of language. Degrees of
knowledge, of culture, are the differences- what was selected for in each
environment- but the memetic/genetic substrate remains the same.
- Wade
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