Defence of Dawkins
greg erwin
Like Darwin's theory, Dawkins's is neutral. Dawkins himself is quite
hostile to religion, but simply positing the idea that memes evolve is
not. To me, it is obvious, once it is mentioned, that memes exist, and
evolve. It is also obvious that some ideas reflect the outside world, and
help to deal with it, such as, how to make tools, methods of agriculture
and so on. Other ideas such as standing rigidly still and inclining your
head forward in the presence of certain statues are not immediately
utilitarian.
The general idea is that groups of memes can come together and form
mutually reinforcing structures, whether they are true, or whether they
have anything to do with objective reality or not. It is obvious that all
religions cannot be true, as they are contradictory in many way. Thus, at
least some of them must be false and this statement, at a minimum, applies
to those that are false.
But this also applies to fads like pet rocks, waves of elephant jokes,
then blonde jokes, and so on. These do not reflect anything rational, but
seem rather to be more easily explained by an infectious virus model.
that's all for now. My signature is a meme I caught from Delos McKown.
--
--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.
Will exploit animals for food.
--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--
Dave Hearn
: Like Darwin's theory, Dawkins's is neutral. Dawkins himself is quite
: hostile to religion, but simply positing the idea that memes evolve is
: not. To me, it is obvious, once it is mentioned, that memes exist, and
: evolve. It is also obvious that some ideas reflect the outside world, and
: help to deal with it, such as, how to make tools, methods of agriculture
: and so on. Other ideas such as standing rigidly still and inclining your
: head forward in the presence of certain statues are not immediately
: utilitarian.
: The general idea is that groups of memes can come together and form
: mutually reinforcing structures, whether they are true, or whether they
: have anything to do with objective reality or not. It is obvious that all
Objective reality.... truth.... I still have a litle trouble with this...
: religions cannot be true, as they are contradictory in many way. Thus, at
: least some of them must be false and this statement, at a minimum, applies
: to those that are false.
If reality and truth are defined relative to the ideas (or discourse!)
within a system... then surely the impact of the groupings of memes is
a framework within which to define truth and reality?
: But this also applies to fads like pet rocks, waves of elephant jokes,
: then blonde jokes, and so on. These do not reflect anything rational, but
: seem rather to be more easily explained by an infectious virus model.
: that's all for now. My signature is a meme I caught from Delos McKown.
: --
: --**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--
: The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.
: Will exploit animals for food.
: --**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--
Dave