Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id HAA23723 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 15 Feb 2002 07:02:56 GMT X-Originating-IP: [137.110.248.206] From: "Grant Callaghan" <grantc4@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 22:57:25 -0800 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <LAW2-F86PVQvyRAYGHv00007f7d@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 15 Feb 2002 06:57:25.0874 (UTC) FILETIME=[067C5520:01C1B5EE] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>
>But since it is also tied up with brain-washing and multilevel marketing
>and is rejected by such luminaries as E. O. Wilson and Stephen Pinker...
>and while it is also tied up with evolution and rationality and accepted
>by such luminaries as Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins....
>
>We wait.
>
>Parsimony, so far, does not demand a meme.
>
>Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
>
>- - Wade
>
>It does indeed, but there is never any harm in a little playfull discusion.
>More to the point, culture does appear to be replicated, and so far no one
>has come up wtih why it does change and why it doesn’t. Parsimony is fine,
>but it doesn't appear to help with culture change.
>
>Regards
>
>Steve
>
As a point of note, E. O. Wilson says in Consilience, "The definition of
meme I suggest is nevertheless more focused and somewhat different from that
of Dawkins. It is the one posed by the theoretical biologist Charles J.
Lumsden and myself in 1981, when we outlined the first full theory of
gene-culture coevolution. We recommended that the unit of culture -- now
called meme -- be the same as the node of semantic memory and its correlates
in brain activity. The level of the node, whether concept (the simplest
recognizable unit), proposition, or schema, determines the complexity of the
idea, behavior, or artifact that it helps to sustain in the culture at
large." Chapter 7, From Genes to Culture.
In other words, E. O. Wilson is just one more voice in the hunt for a clear
definition of the meme.
Grant
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