Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA18313 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 28 Nov 2001 14:24:47 GMT Subject: RE: Field of Memes Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 09:19:10 -0500 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: <20011128141946.AAA9811@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 11/28/01 08:37, Vincent Campbell said this-
>Memetics, to me, is about the artefacts that we produce that other organisms
>on Earth do not, that allow us to have greater cultural capital than any
>other organism.
Snails could be said to produce artefacts, as could coral and termites
and spiders and dung beetles. Memetics stays within these evolutionary
processes and _might be_ saying there is a uniqueness to our cultural
artefacts. That uniqueness would seem, to me, to be that we both keep
them and let others use them. We make memes.
But an economist might say that uniqueness would be because we sell them.
And I'm sure other stances put the uniqueness where they want, too.
- Wade
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