Date: Tue, 07 Oct 1997 18:49:59 -0400
From: "Robert G. Grimes" <grimes@fcol.com>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: The power to resist memes: reality or delusion?
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Mick Ashby wrote:
> It strikes me that many memeticians are carriers of the belief that
> having an understanding of memes makes them better equipped to exert
> conscious control over which memes they decide to believe in, and
> which
> they will reject. I would like to question this widely-held belief.
> [Note: here I use the term 'belief' rather than 'meme' because it is
> consciously held - that can be an important distinction]
> Snip
I feel forced to quote one of my favorite sources, "Man is not in
control; however, the man who knows this is 'more' in control!"
This addresses the "lack of free will" question and other implications
of our inheritance and chemistry. If we are aware of factors that
direct, alter and affect our cognitive milieu, then we certainly have
"better odds" of circumventing or "outwitting" those "operators."
My personal suggestions along this line (trying not to be too humorous)
involve, for example, the simplest of solutions and that is to use a
committee for certain decisions with compensatory participants, i.e.,
each "impairment or bias" is offset by another, thus reaching a type of
balance. Included in this would be mixed sexes for both masculine and
feminine hormonal biases, using women participants with opposing
menstrual periods (compensating for the PMS contribution by
individuals), mixed ages for both daring and wisdom utilizing callow
youth and advanced sages and, naturally, diversity of race and religion
to compensate for metaphysical and ethnic component contributions.
Committee meeting times would be varied to offset circadian cycles
(known and unknown), meeting places would be "Faraday shielded," and
certain "random" generators would be used for meeting and voting times,
etc., to offset personal agendas, etc.
Naturally, those of you with committee experience will immediately go
beyond the scientific implications of these suggestions and insist that
we just described the committee that designed the platypus.
My quotation still stands....
Thanks for allowing this interjection...
Cordially,
Bob
-- Bob Grimeshttp://members.aol.com/bob5266/ http://www.hotwired.com/members/profile/bobinjax/ http://www.phonefree.com/Scripts/cgiParse.exe?sID=28788 Jacksonville, Florida Bob5266@aol.com grimes@fcol.com
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore....."
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Mick Ashby wrote:
It strikes me that many memeticians are carriers of the belief thatI feel forced to quote one of my favorite sources, "Man is not in control; however, the man who knows this is 'more' in control!"
having an understanding of memes makes them better equipped to exert
conscious control over which memes they decide to believe in, and which
they will reject. I would like to question this widely-held belief.
[Note: here I use the term 'belief' rather than 'meme' because it is
consciously held - that can be an important distinction]
SnipThis addresses the "lack of free will" question and other implications of our inheritance and chemistry. If we are aware of factors that direct, alter and affect our cognitive milieu, then we certainly have "better odds" of circumventing or "outwitting" those "operators."
My personal suggestions along this line (trying not to be too humorous) involve, for example, the simplest of solutions and that is to use a committee for certain decisions with compensatory participants, i.e., each "impairment or bias" is offset by another, thus reaching a type of balance. Included in this would be mixed sexes for both masculine and feminine hormonal biases, using women participants with opposing menstrual periods (compensating for the PMS contribution by individuals), mixed ages for both daring and wisdom utilizing callow youth and advanced sages and, naturally, diversity of race and religion to compensate for metaphysical and ethnic component contributions. Committee meeting times would be varied to offset circadian cycles (known and unknown), meeting places would be "Faraday shielded," and certain "random" generators would be used for meeting and voting times, etc., to offset personal agendas, etc.
Naturally, those of you with committee experience will immediately go beyond the scientific implications of these suggestions and insist that we just described the committee that designed the platypus.
My quotation still stands....
Thanks for allowing this interjection...
Cordially,
Bob
--
Bob Grimeshttp://members.aol.com/bob5266/
http://www.hotwired.com/members/profile/bobinjax/
http://www.phonefree.com/Scripts/cgiParse.exe?sID=28788
Jacksonville, Florida
Bob5266@aol.com grimes@fcol.comQuoth the Raven, "Nevermore....."
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