From: Richard Brodie <RBrodie@brodietech.com>
To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: Tyranny of the replicators
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 16:10:13 -0700
N Rose wrote:
>There is no 'us' to throw off the memes, yet many of like
>to think that there is; Thus is the power of (what Dennett calls)
>the benign user illusion. Even if memes were to entirely
>overthrow the interests of the genes (and that is a debate in
>itself), then we would still be 'victims of "the tyranny of the
>selfish replicator"'; only this time its memes rather than genes
>that are 'pulling the strings'.
Don't you think you are being needlessly reductionist? Genes and memes
are useful models, but so is "us," isn't it? Why would the usefulness of
genetics or memetics argue against the model of free will? Isn't it just
another perspective on the chaotic and complex forces present in the
universe?
Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com +1.425.688.8600
CEO, Brodie Technology Group, Inc., Bellevue, WA, USA
Author, VIRUS OF THE MIND: The New Science of the Meme
Visit Meme Central: http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
>
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