Tom,
I think it has *everything* to do with memes. I've been trying for 2 months
to get across the idea that if it happens on a behavioral level it happens
at the cellular level (and that's where I'm placing the discovery of the
physical structure of "meme"; even though many would leave it at the
behavioral level as something metaphorical which describes the evolution of
culture). The "dance" phenomenon as in "the social equivalent of thinking"
has equivalents throughout the material realm as it regards the passing on
of traits: It is the mating dance, it is the spawning of salmon who go
against the flow, it is the swimming of sperm to the egg in a test of
fitness, it is the *genetic* determinant of survival of the fittest (must
surely be how the gene functions, "chance recombination"). By my
calculations though, the game is zero sum and leaves one with "chance" as
the final word. So, it provides raw material, fuel for the fire, of memetic
processes--which is more like the continuence of a prime cause through its
own evolutionary stages (or more properly, through *developmental* stages,
evolution being reserved for "growth" in the sense of taking in several
possibilities...memetic replication becomes, similarly, "development" in the
sense of forward momentum).
Brett
The
At 09:08 PM 9/23/97 -0400, you wrote:
>>For some people there is no content there is only the dance...content comes
>>from within. Personal attacks (deconstructing someone else's argument and
>>taking the spoils) is the way some "think"...in fact, it is the social
>>equivalent of thinking (Assume for a moment that each person were an idea
>>and the combination of each person/idea produced a new idea which destroys
>>it's components).
>I feel compelled to offer up a vigorous "Me too!" with that 'social
>equivalent of thinking' bit. But--in your judgement--is that good or bad?
>er.. is dancing an ideal, a needed tool, or something to shy away from? or
>a combination?
>feeling really level-2-ish:
>tom.
>This post has nothing to say directly about memetics, does it?
Returning,
rBERTS%n
Rabble Sonnet Retort
Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work
he is supposed to be doing at that moment.
Robert Benchley