Message-Id: <199910071110.HAA14925@smtp7.atl.mindspring.net>
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 07:19:36 -0400
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: bbenzon@mindspring.com (Bill Benzon)
Subject: RE: implied or inferred memes
>William,
>
>Would you be willing to share your suggested "deeper view" with us? Perhaps
>excerpts
>from your articles would help some of us understand you criticism better.
Well, my criticism has mostly been expressed on this list. I was quite
active in the early days and you can find my remarks there. In particular,
Aaron Lynch issued a challenge in which he asked folks to read his
discussion of masturbation (at his web site) and critique. If you find
that discussion, you'll find some of my criticisms, though most of the
heavy lifting on that particular matter was done by Tim Perper and Martha
Cornog.
For the most part, I agree with Derek Gatherer's general criticism of the
notion of memes in the mind/brain. However, unlike Gatherer, I am
interested in what happens in the brain/mind. I just don't think we find
memes there. Rather, the mind/brain provides the selective environment for
cultural evolution.
***
The following two articles are the ones most directly related to memetics:
Culture as an Evolutionary Arena. Journal of Social and Evolutionary
Systems, 19(4), 321-362, 1996.
Culture's Evolutionary Landscape: A Reply to Hans-Cees Speel. Journal of
Social and Evolutionary Systems, 20(3), 314-322, 1997.
***
These articles are about cultural evolution and the evolution of cognition,
but are not memetic:
Principles and Development of Natural Intelligence. Journal of Social and
Biological Structures 11, 293 - 322, 1988. (with David G. Hays)
A Note on Why Natural Selection Leads to Complexity. Journal of Social and
Biological Structures 13, 33-40, 1990. (with David G. Hays)
The Evolution of Cognition. Journal of Social and Biological Structures
13, 297-320, 1990. (with David G. Hays)
The Evolution of Narrative and the Self. Journal of Social and
Evolutionary Systems, 16(2): 129-155, 1993
Stages in the Evolution of Music. Journal of Social and Evolutionary
Systems, 16(3): 283-296, 1993.
The United States of the Blues: On the Crossing of African and European
Cultures in the Twentieth Century. Journal of Social and Evolutionary
Systems, 16(4), 401-438, 1993.
Music Making History: Africa Meets Europe in the United States of the
Blues. In Nikongo Ba'Nikongo, ed., Leading Issues in Afro-American
Studies. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 1997, pp.
189-233.
William L. Benzon 201.217.1010
708 Jersey Ave. Apt. 2A bbenzon@mindspring.com
Jersey City, NJ 07302 USA http://www.newsavanna.com/wlb/
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