Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 13:38:24 -0400
From: Bill Benzon <bbenzon@meta4inc.com>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Doing the neural walk
Mark Mills wrote:
> I'm interested in where people place themselves in my matrix of 4
> possible gene/meme models. Comments would be appreciated.
I don't much care where you place me, for these considerations are not what is
driving my thinking. I am concerned about the overall formal requirements of
evolutionary explanation. On the one hand we need an arena where things are
selected and we need things in that arena to be selected. On the other hand we
need an arena where things are replicated and we need things in that arena to
be replicated. Without these components you don't have an evolutionary
explanation.
Now, we can give "meme" an intentional definition in terms of this story.
Memes are the things that get replicated. OK. Now we can ask about the
extension of the term "meme." Given that intentional definition, can you
point out some memes? That's the step where I say that memes are in the
environment, as behaviors and artifacts which humans can copy (individually or
in concert with others).
This has nothing to do with whether memes are processes or substances. And my
preference for this position has nothing to do with the difficulties about
thinking about the brain. After all, I still have to think about that since I
locate the cultural phenotypes in brains, as exceeding complex patterns of
neural processing.
Bill B
-- William Benzon Senior Scientist Meta4 Incorporated 33-41 Newark Street Hoboken, NJ 07030 USA voice: 201.656.0906 fax: 201.656.0901 home page: www.newsavanna.com/wlb/
=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit