From: "Richard Brodie" <richard@brodietech.com>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: selfishness, Buddhism, and memetics
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 10:37:10 -0700
In-Reply-To: <8f1e4868.24437e77@aol.com>
MemeLab wrote:
<<Assuming that this book will be the first in a series of various efforts
to
make the case for a science of memetics,>>
Actually, I think it will be the NEXT book on memetics that will be the
first in the series.
<< But there is a very real and basic
template of selfishness, an innately emerging pattern of thinking and
acting,
underlying both the realities and delusions that people may have about their
"selves". Acknowledging this situation, in no way compels the conclusion
that
"self is an illusion". Though SOME of the things that we say ABOUT the
"self" may indeed be delusional, that doesn't mean that there is no self.>>
Surely no one argues that the term "self" is meaningless. At the very least,
it refers to the parts of the universe that hurt when you hit them with a
hammer. But "self is an illusion" is a didactic aid to help us remember that
our self-image tends to be one of the most delusional parts of our world
view. There are good evolutionary reasons for this, as pointed out by
Plotkin, Bloom, Buss, Wright, and others (references can be found on my
Memetics Bookstore Page if you are interested,
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/books.htm ).
I'll be away for the next week. See you all on April 18th.
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme"
Free newsletter! http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
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