Date: Mon, 03 Nov 1997 19:25:31 -0500 (EST)
From: Valla Pishva <vpishva@emerald.tufts.edu>
Subject: Re: Do monkeys have memes
To: memetics list <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
On Mon, 3 Nov 1997, Mark Mills wrote:
>
> I take the view that memes are code units stored upon brain tissue
> substrates. Monkey brain tissue is only marginally differentiated from
> human brain tissue, thus it seems relatively simple to hypothesize the
> existence of memetic operations in monkeys (and all other animals with
> neural tissue.
>
> Mark
Yes, and thats why I brought up autistic people and "wild" children as
complimenting examples of instances of biologically or environmentally
imposed memetic sinkholes. Im disposed to compare this with the concept
of memetic immunization. Situations are created where some individuals
can not acquire certain memes, whatever the mechanizm (genetic- autism,
species specific- monkeys, environmental- wild children, or memetic-
creationism). The inability or refusal to make paradigm shifts of "old
school" scientists might be another memetic example. I believe, though,
that monkey memes are much more amicable to monkey genes as opposed to the
human gene-meme battles that have been spoken of in previous postings.
-val
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