RE: virus: Do memes exist?

Brett Lane Robertson (unameit@tctc.com)
Tue, 23 Sep 1997 21:34:11 -0500


At 09:53 PM 9/23/97 -0400, you wrote:
>(Lurker alert: pardon the intrusion...)
>
>> Genes are implied by the manner in which traits are handed down
>> across
>> generations by living creatures. (below)
>>
>> List,
>>
>> Are they implied or are they caused?
>>
>> Brett
>
> I think he meant that the /existence/ of genes are implied by the
>process of inheritance, or is that what you're asking about? And
>don't we already have a good idea of /how/ memes transfer from one
>mind to the next?
> Just my two cents (worth a penny in the US)...
>
>Mark

Mark,

I didn't say that well did I? I was trying to say that if we look at a
phenomenon (genes) we may verify its existence by either its cause or its
effects. The statements that *the existence* of genes are " implied by the
manner in which traits are handed down..." seemed to imply to me that genes
were the most basic unit of that which hands down traits, their basic nature
being such that they can only be studied by their effects. I meant to say
that this view of genes as being the cause of themself--and therefore beyond
question--must be questioned. I hope I conveyed that memes affect genes (a
point I have made in other posts). But, no...I do not thind that we
"already have a good idea of /how/memes transfer from one mind to the next".
Is this a comment on the idea that (I may have given this impression):
Genes are the mechanism for the transference of memes from one mind to the next?

Brett

Returning,
rBERTS%n
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