Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19980916113732.00d241b4@popmail.mcs.net>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 11:37:32 -0500
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Aaron Lynch <aaron@mcs.net>
Subject: Re: Wilbur and Orville
In-Reply-To: <35FF5ECC.58102BD8@rug.ac.be>
At 08:46 AM 9/16/98 +0200, Mario Vaneechoutte wrote:
>BMSDGATH wrote:
>
>> Richard said:
>> >It's like the Wright Brothers doing heavier-than-air flight without
>> >agreement on the science of aeronautics.
>>
>> and Aaron added:
>> >Except for Gatherer's thesis, which is more like saying that both the
>> >flight and the aerodynamic science are impossible, so let's work only
>> >on submarines and hydrodynamics.
>>
>> Interesting that you compare yourselves to the great Wilbur and
>> Orville, homespun American autodidactic geniuses fighting against and
>> ultimately vanquishing the dark bigoted forces of entrenched academic
>> opinion. Thank you for that illuminating insight into your self-image.
>> I feel I understand you better now.
>
>Derek, besides the fact that this kind of remark is quite childish (and it
>is not the first time you do this kind of emotional stuff), it illustrates
>how you misread texts. I see no one here comparing himself with the
>brothers Wright.
>
>Mario
The problem with rebutting such a misattribution, Mario, is that he can
come back and read further misattributions into your rebuttal. You can
rebut the new misattributions, only to find him making further
misattributions in turn. I would not expect this to stop until the emotions
are set aside, or allowed to cool off.
Evolution theory, whether memetic or genetic, is an emotionally loaded
topic for many people. The idea that humans arose from a mundane process of
natural selection continues to trouble many people, as does the assertion
that even our most cherished belief systems arose from a process of
evolution by natural selection.
--Aaron Lynch
http://www.mcs.net/~aaron/thoughtcontagion.html
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