>Crafted object is to meme as phenotype is to gene is not a good analogy.
Yes. I've read Dawkins, Dennett, Hull and the gang, and I appreciate that
there are significant disanalogies between memes and genes, but for a
person who thinks that a fork is a meme (and not, as you say, "a vessel for
the transmission of memes") grasping the meme/artifact - gene/phenotype
analogy is a step in the right direction.
I don't mean to come across as gruff or irratable. I agree with
everything* you (Reed Konsler) wrote. I just hope that Peter (and anyone
else following the thread) appreciates that, even though you purport to be
coming to his aid by praising forks as potent facilitators of memetic
propagation, you have not claimed that a fork (qua physical object) is a
meme.
Take care, all. -KMO
* Actually I've got some problem with "I guess what I think is very
significant is that the physical expressions (forks, speech, etc.) of our
conciousness are a vital component (in my opinion the central component) of
our conciousness."
I'd like to see you expand on this idea.
when you're down it's a long way up
when you're up it's a long way down
it's all the same thing
no new tale to tell