Re: virus: Highly sophisticated

Eva-Lise Carlstrom (eva-lise@efn.org)
Sun, 2 Mar 1997 23:01:07 -0800 (PST)


On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, Richard Brodie wrote:

> I think the idiom is "fall by the wayside." I'm curious: what does
> Objectivism have to say about grammar? Is it part of objective reality?
> Is it real? Does it matter?

I don't know what David R. is going to say on behalf of Objectivism on
this question, but I felt like answering for my own view here. Grammar is
a collectively-agreed-on system for making signals that consistently
and reasonably efficiently trigger intended memes. It's as real as any
memetic construct (like governments, religions, mathematical concepts),
and it matters as long as we still want to talk to each other.

Eva