> -----Original Message-----
So instead of telling him about the joy of living in the wonderful and
exciting universe we all share, we should sell him the lead nickels of faith
instead? There have been many religions of that kind in the past, invented
by good memeticists even if they didn't call themselves that. Why do you
imagine that your brand of nickel is better than theirs? And why should
anyone want to trade it (buying or selling) in favor of some of the older,
more established memes? Newer (in a meme field) is not always "better". Just
because it is "invented here" conveys no benefit to anyone outside the
coterie of the church of virus. It seems to me that more thought and
disclosure of your aims and the steps to be taken in order to accomplish
them, might be more fun - and holds slightly more chance of accomplishing
anything, than the sterile retilling of tired soil. Unless of course, these
word games are the final product? The tired old religions have enough
proponents skilled in the art of mouthing sonorous, but essentially
meaningless threats and promises. Are you thinking of a better way of doing
the same? Or of trying something new? If you are planning something new, I
would hope that you will share your vision rather than play semantic games.
> From: owner-virus@lucifer.com
> [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com]On Behalf
> Of Tim Rhodes
> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 10:57 AM
> To: virus@lucifer.com
> Subject: Re: virus: The Alleged Virtues of Faith (was: The Energizer
> Bunny)
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 17 Mar 1999, joe dees wrote:
>
> > You're still locked into the vision of the archetypical
> (Unity vs. Duality) as actual (Unity vs. Multiplicity), when
> the _latter_ isn't even actual! Genes, minds, memes,
> societies, ecologies and evolutions are much more complex,
> recursive and multifaceted fractal systems than such
> simplistic, integral (in the sense of integers) and digital
> metaphors (reductionist memes) can map or model. They may lie
> beneath or beyond them, but never beside them. You may swear
> that you are drawing similes, but they are in no
> meaningful/useful way similar.
>
> If a man is trying to choses which side of coin to cast his
> lot on, what good
> does it do to tell him about the atoms and electrons and
> quarks that compose
> it, if he cannot even see the metal from which it is cast?
> You read the what of
> my post, did you read the why as well, my fellow shaman?
>
> -Prof. Tim
>
In my opinion, for what it is worth, reason, logic, discovery, teaching, science, literature, art, music, sharing, sex, enthusiasm, children, joy, ideas, laughter, flowers, the sea, mountains, stars, are the kinds of things that make life worth living. Not faith. Not didactics. Not meaningless mouthing.
TheHermit <Not sure what a COV shaman really is - but rapidly becoming convinced that it is unlikely to be a desireable occupation>