Subject: RE: Whales and the Memetic Group definitions
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 09:31:41 -0400
From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
>So to paraphrase Wade: "Show me an internal meme".
I'm now completely on this side- there ain't no there there. Culture is
an observed phenomenon, and I see only frivolity in making any
assumptions about memes being a part of the brain's workings.
Culture is what we show and tell about behaviors- memes are part of the
communication matrix. They do appear at the start of things- and it is
the difficulty of seeing where the chain begins that is, IMHO, the main
problem in memetics, and the reason why some people claim they can
'design' a meme- although IMHO it is also approaches frivolity to make
this claim- truly a Lamarckian stance. IMHO, again, it is only the
processed clay of culture that we can mold and shape, the actual earths
and raw materials are natural events over which we have no control.
Chicken and egg, though, I know. But genetics _has_ an answer to that
riddle. I think memetics has one too....
- Wade
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