From: Hans-Cees Speel <hanss@zondisk.sepa.tudelft.nl>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 10:17:03 +0000
Subject: Re: gene replication [was Defining Memes }
> I suspect it is a question of scale. Be aware I was once a geologist so
> tend to gloss over details at scales less than a few 100,000 years. I
> completely, I hope, see the point about the detail. I am still though
> struck by the observation that the molecular structure of the double helix
> grants it the power - given again this messy thing called context - to
> replicate. The only other chemical structure I know of hypothesised to do
> this is the Cairns-Smith clay mineral hypothesis for the origin of life.
> May be I am metaphysical but I am struck by by the sheer simplicity of the
> hypothesis of a secong or third level of replicator; perhaps one that can
> exploit quantum/wave frequencies a step higher than the poor old gene [see
> my correspondence with Mark Mills].
please do observe that clay, if I understand Dawkins right, does
have chemical properties that makes it replicate on its own, and dna
does not! So your context trick might put you on the wrong leg (if
that is an expression in English, I mean might fool you from clear
understanding)
hc
Theories come and go, the frog stays [F. Jacob]
-------------------------------------------------------
Hans-Cees Speel
Managing Editor "Journal of Memetics Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission"
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