virus: Re: virus-digest V1 #26

Ken Pantheists (kenpan@axionet.com)
Fri, 20 Sep 1996 12:15:08 -0700


>>Religions tend to be dogmatic and to insulate themselves against
>>refutation in a way that science does not.

Was this supposed to be a joke?

The last three digests have been filled *exclusively* with memes that
insulate science from religion.

Come on. Memetics is more timely than this. We're getting stuck in the age
of the Moderns. Memetics shows us that it doesn't matter what is right--
only what is better at replicating itself.

Here I go again.

I still say that religious memes do not always replicate in an environment
of ignorance.
It just explains things more clearly (to some) and uses open ended memes
(parables) as well as dogma to do so.

They're two ways of coping with information.

We would get more out of our discussions if we adopt a more neutral stance.
i.e. recognize our own memes with greater accuracy.

Mon. afternoon I am lecturing on elizabethan rhetoric and how it relates to
Shakespearean drama. I am amazed when I hear from people under 20 that they
have *no* understanding of the Bible or any of its symbols. How much, I ask,
will they get from Shakespeare? Has good old Wil been insulated out of our
meme pool as well?

Stephen