Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 18:53:35 -0700
From: "Robert G. Grimes" <grimes@fcol.com>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: implied or inferred memes
Mark,
A very good point and supports our contention that the symbology is just the
"seed" and the remainder of the representation is furnished by the "receiver."
I used to speak (sign) sign language fluently having gone to school with
several young deaf people and the experience help me immensely to understand
other people, just as a "foreign" language tends to do. I also remember the
slight paranoia that I witnessed by those who had no hearing yet were
constantly in the midst of talking people whom they could not understand but
only get occasional "hints" as to what was being said. They naturally were
easily "tempted" to read something else into things and, as a result, I learned
to be particularly careful not only with them but with others whom I recognized
might tend to read their own insecurities or fears into vagaries of
conversation. There but for the grace, etc., etc.,...
Cordially,
Bob
"Mark M. Mills" wrote:
> Bob,
>
>
> There is the other end of the spectrum to consider, too. While it is
> useful to point out the odd experiments with mind/memory that gain
> popularity despite scientific refutation, there is also the case of true
> consciousness denied by popular science.
>
> For example, look at the troubles ASL users have had convincing the
> academic establishment American Sign Language was a fully expressive
> language. For most of the 20th century, institutions for the deaf avoided
> ASL in favor of 'lip reading.' The academic establishment was convinced
> that only 'lip reading' provided the intellectual fulfillments of language.
> Language was words, not gesture. ASL users were primatives. In brief,
> for most of the 20th century, the academic establishment refused to
> acknowledge ASL users had full consciousness.
>
> Assessing groups of humans to possess less than full consciousness has been
> a common reaction to outsiders, regardless the culture.
>
> Mark
>
-- Bob Grimeshttp://members.aol.com/bob5266/ http://pages.hotbot.com/edu/bobinjax/ http://www.phonefree.com/Scripts/cgiParse.exe?sID=28788 Jacksonville, Florida Bob5266@aol.com robert.grimes@excite.com bobinjax@hotbot.com
Bobgrimes@zdnetmail.com
Man is not in control, but the man who knows he is not in control is more in control...
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore....."
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