Re: virus: Observations on Virus

David McFadzean (dbm@merak.com)
Wed, 25 Oct 1995 15:26:36 -0600


At 02:09 PM 10/25/95 +0000, Tyson Vaughan wrote:

>I am merely pointing out that this is an inherent problem in ANY religion,
>and Virus is no exception despite its aspirations to become completely
>adaptable.

Dogma isn't any more inherent in religion than the worship of supernatural
entities, i.e. only if that's how you define religion.

>>Scientific facts are written down as well. Are they dogma?
>
>Yes.

Dogma has the connotations of something held to be true no matter
what the evidence to the contrary. I don't think it applies to
science or Virus.

>>/meaning(life)=sum(memes).
>
>Just to clarify, this is shorthand for: the meaning of (an individual's)
>life is the sum effect of that person's memes. This is what I understand
>Virus to postulate.

Just to clarify, I postulated that the meaning of one's life is the
sum total of the effects of that life, due to memes or otherwise.
I noticed that you used the word 'postulate' which, to me, means that
the statement is provisional and, ipso facto, not dogma.

>{An aside here -- Romana, by the way, also seems to think that death is a
>very, very bad thing, something to be avoided at all costs. I see no
>problem with longevity or even immortality, but I don't see anything wrong
>with death, either. It's natural, after all. Seeing her talking about

"Natural" should never be confused with "good". Botulism is, after all,
completely natural.

>For an excellent discourse on evolution and historical contingency, I
>strongly recommend Stephen Jay Gould's book WONDERFUL LIFE.

For an excellent antidote to Gould, I strongly recommend Dennett's
_Darwin's Dangerous Idea_.

>I suppose I am putting the universe in the place of the Classical gods.
>Perhaps I have some pantheistic tendencies that way, but in general I don't
>see humans as any better than any other species in the universe. I don't
>like species-centricity at all. And while I am sure that many Extropians
>are not species-centric, I keep getting that old-time species-centric vibe
>from the Extropian movement.

Is it hubris to believe that humans have the most potential of
any known species? Just wondering.

--
David McFadzean                 dbm@merak.com
Memetic Engineer                http://www.merak.com/~dbm/
Merak Projects Ltd.