Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA01474 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 20 Nov 2001 20:39:10 GMT Message-ID: <000701c17203$67090fc0$f9a2bed4@default> From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <001001c16c62$3552d3e0$3524f4d8@teddace><003301c16e15$6d314a80$fb24f4d8@teddace><001401c16fa8$4b315e40$3f01bed4@default> <01111916483600.01049@storm.berkeley.edu> Subject: Re: Debunking pseudoscience: Why horoscopes really work Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 21:38:29 +0100 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: Philip A.E. Jonkers <phae@uclink.berkeley.edu>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 1:48 AM
Subject: Re: Debunking pseudoscience: Why horoscopes really work
> Hi Kenneth,
> > A kind of a memetic isomorphism, containing fundamental building blocks
> > of one character ( memes) can be present long before the development
> > of the self- plex itself.
Hi Philip,
<< I did read the reference, impressive, but I think I will stick to my
comment.
Well because,
I agree that feral children are reduced to the level of animals if they lack
everything what would make them human, but that would not take away the
consideration of the existence of a ( human) memetic or other isomorphism.
There are fundamental building blocks of one character in the feral child,
it is just that those did not have the chance to express themselves.
Susan Greenfield explains,
If you were getting blind on one eye, the visual cortex don 't develops any
visual connection for that eye. But because, inside your brain, the notion
of the fittest ( there is a Darwinian competition for connections) still
works,
other parts of your brain will take over the empty space_ in a sense it will
be taking over by those connections of the other eye.
But if you were completely blind, your brain would not have made any
connection, in a way the cortex keeps it flexibility if, after surgery, you
could see again.
And in a way, the same thing happened with those children.
Their human fundaments were grown over by those of the jungle.
They could not speak ! Of course not ! They only could learn to speak
after severe practice and than again, of course, all what was needed to
speak was grown over by other abilities. They treated the sound of the
human voice as background noise, of course, it had no meaning.
IMO, these children are not that different from what happened to the eye
in the paragraph above.
At a early age, you need models, socialisation if you wish, if you lack,
for whatever reason that opportunity, your brain already made connections
which in a sense can be undone.
Speak, hearing, sight, walking upright, memory, self- awareness,... all are
sitting in the same boat, without the proper fundamental connections in
your brain you will get nowhere_ others will take over. To reverse the
process, if possible, you will need years.
We are not born into this world with minds as blank as a sheet of white
paper, but and I agree we have to rely on society to clothe us as humans.
And I do insist on that last word.
Personal note, like I said many times before on this list, loosing your
parents
at a young age, is maby a disavantage, but it gives you a hell of an
opportunity
to build yourself via memes.
Maybe I lost the years of puberty and its memes of speech, sight,... but it
did
strenghten me in my notion of self- awareness, and well because I could
rely on human fundamentals of survival.
If I lived than on that age in the jungle, I would have died.
By the way, I am not opset Philip,
Regards,
Kenneth
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