Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 08:07:38 -0700
From: Bill Spight <bspight@pacbell.net>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: implied or inferred memes
Dear Derek,
Derek:
But, and this is a big but, we should remember Fisher's dictum
(mentioned in John Wilkins' JoM paper) that the mutation rate, ie. the
rate at which novelty is generated, needs to be an order of magnitude
less than the selection pressure.
Bill:
Exactly what is that a condition for? Thanks. <s>
Derek:
societies are full of apparently maladaptive cultural
practices that nevertheless are fairly persistent over time.
Bill:
Maladaptive from the point of view of the humans? Or from the point of
view of the memes? Actually, I think that it is here that the memetic
viewpoint pays off, where persistent cultural practices do not benefit
the people involved.
Derek:
It seems that the cultural practice of lecture attendance definitely
gives a selective advantage in terms of survival in the academic
system, but only for ethnic minority groups.
Bill:
This is *not just* an association? You were able to indicate a causal
connection?
Many thanks,
Bill
===============================================================
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