Re: virus: Discoveries and Inventions

Peter Charlot (bevens@hgea.org)
Thu, 6 Feb 1997 21:11:55 -1000


Reed Konsler wrote regarding a Dave Pape comment:
>
>Recognizing parent's faces? You're getting close to the line where I ask
>how you differentiate between a meme and a reflex or a heritable encoded
>process.

I believe there is a line betwixt these, can't always tell definitely,
except when one is trying to concentrate on meme-osophy and images of
lascivious orgies keep intruding from no where.

New subject...Dave Pape wrote regarding a statement of mine...

>>CONSCIOUSNESS IS AN ILLUSION! DID YOU HEAR THAT EVERYONE?

Reed Konsler stated...
>...Conciousness may be an illusion, but it may yet be of some use to us.

I agree. I don't have a knee jerk antipathy toward illusions. They've all
we've got. The first illusions were, back in the ol' neolithic, the key
instrument by which memes moved from conrete representation to abstract
symbols. For example, our ancestors may have combined (through crossover,
mutation et al) attributes of various animals into a single imaginary
creature. This multiplied, by many orders, the ability to adapt
successfully. In turn, gods emerged to give ever more choices. You may not
be able to see them, and so all the better to imitate them. Going atheistic
doesn't change anything, one still has to contend with concepts and ideas
that, in essence, serve the same purpose as gods do.

Greetings Reed,

Peter