From: <Mario.Vaneechoutte@rug.ac.be>
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 14:52:24 +0200
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: New meme-ber!
Bruce Howlett wrote:
> Rich & Linda,
>
> Your post would indicate that you "believe" in supernatural phenomena
> such as "spirit" and "being" as though they were a part of the "natural"
> world. This by definition is not possible. Memetics is about how
> beliefs influence human behaviour
I wished we could restrict memetics to this: how beliefs influence human
behaviour.
> and how some beliefs (memes)
Still, I wouldn't say that beliefs theirselves are memes. In my opinion, a
belief is an attitude one can have towards a meme. Of course, this attitude
will influence whether we spread of the meme or not, but we can't consider it
as a meme.
> perpetuate their own existence.
I'd rather say: how some ideas/statements (these could be memes) have
characteristics which make us more prone to believe them and spread them. This
'memes doing things' is a dangerous statement, which makes me think of
extremistic memetics. The problem with extreme memetics, like that of Sue
Blackmore, is that we get relieved of the homunculus in the brain (nice thing),
but now put the homunculus in the meme (the meme does all kinds of things,
including replicating itself: I'd say that this is nonsense and that it is what
makes memetics ridiculous for many scientists). While brain and meme simply are
in continuous interaction, like all the rest of the world is basically about
interaction, so that it is impossible to tell who did what first to whom.
So, now we have more Speel's on this list. As if one wasn't enough :-)
> Rich & Linda Speel wrote:
> >
> > Hello from California,
> > I joined this list recently by chance of searching for relatives on the
> > web. The thread of this list-'memes'-makes some sense to me, because
> > people learn from their environment as well as their genetic disposition,
> > which to me are not separate realities. But, I think language has its
> > limitations to express why people do what they do. How do others on this
> > list acknowledge 'spirit' as an influence on life? I don't think
> > consciousness is just a chemical occurence, but is connected through the
> > nature of 'being'.
> >
> > I look forward to seeing this conversation continue.
> >
> > Peace,
> > Rich
> >
> > ===============================================================
> > 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
>
> ===============================================================
> 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
-- Mario Vaneechoutte Department Clinical Chemistry, Microbiology & Immunology University Hospital De Pintelaan 185 9000 GENT Belgium Phone: +32 9 240 36 92 Fax: +32 9 240 36 59E-mail: Mario.Vaneechoutte@rug.ac.be
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/Index.html
=============================================================== 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