Re: virus: Angelica de Meme

Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@calweb.com)
Fri, 4 Apr 1997 19:31:07 -0800 (PST)


> >Can we all conspire to put a capital "M" on memetics?

Real sciences don't need proper names. Physics, genetics, linguistics,
medicine, etc., are not capitalized. Why should memetics be, unless
you mean to imply that it is a static, identifiable, closed belief
system, in which case it should be "Memism".

> (1) Do we all believe reality exists?
> (2) Do we believe we are conscious of this reality?
> (3) Do we believe we are capable of learning about this reality?

If you intend that these represent Objectivist axioms, then be
more honest about #3. Rand claims far more than simply the ability
to /learn about/ reality. She claims that we can /know/ reality,
which is a whole different kettle of fish. Even the most die-hard
irrational skeptic can accept that we can learn about reality, in
the sense that we can increase the likelihood of our models making
correct predictions, but he would deny that we could ever achieve
100%, and even deny that our 100% success in the past implies that
we will achieve it in the future.

-- 
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com>  <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC