virus: Hosts and Determinism

Reed Konsler (konsler@ascat.harvard.edu)
Thu, 17 Oct 1996 18:25:10 -0400


>From: noctem@centuryinter.net
>Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 17:03:03 -0600

> Are we possibly seeing here a rise in a memetic allergy of memetic
>theory itself? That when something (data, opinion, whatever) suggests that
>a behavior is unchangeable (barring genetic alteration, et. al.),
>memeticists strive to eliminate or discredit that opinion or data in order
>to maintain its perspective of intellectual mutability?

I'm not a memeticist. Actually my "allergy" to determinism is independent
of the memetics meme and predates thst concept by a decade (or so).

> Is this a positive element, or does it encourage an avoidance of those
>aspects of reality that suggest deterministic elements in human life?

I don't think we're avoiding these issues...we are confronting them pretty
directly. I'm not unwilling to entertain determinist theories...I'm just
suspicious of them as I'm suspicious of religions.

Reed

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Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
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