RE: virus: Memetical Axioms

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Tue, 23 Sep 1997 10:12:43 -0700 (PDT)


On Mon, 22 Sep 1997, Brett Lane Robertson wrote:

> Or it could be said that we hold the particular *genes* we do in large part
> due to memetically-controlled factors. If we choose the memes (or they are
> intelligently controled as we are intelligently controled) and memes choose
> genes, then do genes affect behavior or does behavior (intelligence) affect
> genes. It is not as obvious as Robin would have us believe.

My first year in college I wrote a paper I was quite proud of, in which I
wrote the line "it is therefore obvious that...". When I got it back I
was shocked to see, scrawled across the page in large red letters,
"NOTHING IS OBVIOUS! 0.7" I was a good lesson for me.

Yes, our memes influence who we mate with and therefore which genes are
passed down. And, yes, it is not as obvious a relationship as one would
hope.

-Prof. Tim