> At 05:56 PM 13/10/96 EDT, KMO prime wrote:
> >On what basis do memes compete with one another? Human brains seem to
> >have finite storage capacity, so there would seem to be competition
> >between memes for this limited resource, but that would seem to pit all
> >memes against each other equally in a memetic free-for-all. That
> >doesn't seem to be the case. Some memes facilitate the propagation of
> >some memes and hinder the propagation of others, i.e. there seems to be
> >some memetic mechanisms which give rise to compatibility/incompatibility
> >relationships between memes, but I have no idea what those mechanisms
> >are.
>
> Contradictory memes only have problems co-existing in an environment
> which is ruled by the "logical compatibility" meme. The idea of non-
> contradiction has become so entrenched in my personal belief system
> that I often forget that it is a relatively recent addition (within
> the last 5 years or so) and apparently hold little sway in the meme-
> spaces of most people.
I agree.
> Even people who host the logic meme for the most part of their daily
> lives can simultaneouly host a theistic meme with the addition of
> one other meme, a sort of escape clause: God is beyond (outside of,
> above) logic. This simple addition makes their religious beliefs
> immune to any and all rational arguments so it is hardly surprising
> to find it is quite pervasive in our culture.
Careful. I could put any person's name in place of 'God' there
[workability of substitution in real life irrelevant!]. We need some
content-based way to deny that formal substitution.
The contradiction disappears under near-mathematically rigorous (and
extremely abstract) reasoning. I agree that, at the connotational level,
there are rather severe contradictions.
I remember evoking strong memetic allergies, on several occasions, when I
insisted that 'spiritual' phenomena WERE subject to the scientific
method. These allergies approach exotoxicity.
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/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
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/ Kenneth Boyd
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