Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 07:27:48 -0400
From: Paul Marsden <PMarsden@compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: Replicators
To: "INTERNET:memetics@mmu.ac.uk" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Message text written by INTERNET:memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Mario Vaneechoutte wrote
>The only replicator on Earth today is the cell: the
>cell is a system which can reassemble something similar. Genes cannot do=
>that, neither memes. Genes and memes are replicated.<
I'm not qualified to reply to the first point about cells, but I think yo=
ur
comment that memes are replicated and (therefore by inference not
replictors) is interesting. The problem, it seems to me, is that once yo=
u
say memes are replicated youthen have to posit a replicator, and short of=
homunculi in the brain, souls and such like there aren't a lot of
contenders. I agree that it becomes problematic when we personify memes,=
giving them agency and intentionality - which they clearly don't have, bu=
t
by saying they replicate themselves ie are replicators is just an way of
saying that they get replicated, nobody not even their imaginary souls do=
it, it just happens. The problem, I think, is our inability to conceive =
of
something that is both an object and an action - A meme is both a
replicator and a replicant.
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