Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 19:04:57 +0100
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Robin Faichney <robin@faichney.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: The Replicators or the Replicated
In-Reply-To: <c6ff9896.24488b91@aol.com>
In message <c6ff9896.24488b91@aol.com>, EGraham1@aol.com writes
>Much of the debate centred around memetics seems to me to be induced by the
>wider implications of universal Darwinism which the new(ish) theory
>highlights. When we begin to think of the replicate as pure information, we
>have difficulty defining a universal replicator. We start looking for the
>ultimate cause, the end to the chain of causality.
That's right -- in "hot pursuit" of the meme, we are very liable to find
ourselves up to the nostrils in some rather deep issues.
>To prevent this confusion we must clearly define the boundaries of memetics,
>as opposed to universal Darwinism. Memes are not any old replicated
>information, they are the replicates which are replicated by the mind.
Now define "the mind"!
> In
>trying to define a meme, some people have concentrated on the type of
>information. IMHO this is a confusing perspective. We should define memes
>in terms of the vehicle (symbolic representation i.e. language) used to
>transmit the information, by the replicator (the mind). Although memetic
>selection may be independant of the genetic selection the driving force
>behind memetic replication is an original genetic predisposition to imitation.
>
>My observations of the postings on this list have made me realise that in
>order to adopt a memetic perspective I must not only define meme but also a
>whole load of other stuff, such as information, vehicle, replicate,
>replicator, artefact etc etc I'm still working on it........
I'm working on this too: starting with the relationship between
information and matter, and building up from there. I have quite a lot
of ideas already, but I hesitate to initiate a discussion here, because
it starts at some distance from memetics, and so might be judged off
topic. But if no-one objects, I might try a brief message to test the
water.
-- Robin Faichney=============================================================== 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