Message-Id: <v03102800b1523225c1ff@[194.109.13.153]>
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19980407160014.006fb278@popmail.mcs.net>
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 10:15:06 +0200
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Ton Maas <tonmaas@xs4all.nl>
Subject: Re: List of meme definitions (reply to Paul Marsden)
Aaron wrote:
>Actually, I do not assert that the organisms under study must have
>abstraction systems, so point 3 applies only to "the observer" in my
>definition. My paper proposes an experiment in avian population memetics,
>for instance, without specifically requiring birds to have abstraction
>systems. I also don't say that memories are physical entities per se, but
>that they exist in a physical substrate.
Okay, since we're trying to reach consensus around definitions, let me add
that IMO _all_ systems capable of learning (first order or higher) _must_
have abstraction systems of some kind. All living systems meet that
criterion, simply because of their fundamentally hierarchical structure.
Organisms can have effective "models" of their environment without the need
for consciousness, which is in many respects collateral to the proceedings
of our minds.
You certainly didn't say that memories are physical entities. We would have
a serious clash if you had ;-)
Ton Maas
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