RE: virus: Together or Not

Robin Faichney (r.j.faichney@stir.ac.uk)
Mon, 24 Nov 1997 19:33:18 -0000


> From: David McFadzean[SMTP:david@lucifer.com]
>
> At 06:00 PM 11/24/97 +1300, Tom Parsons wrote:
>
> >Just watch the process happen. It is there to be seen in every
> infant, as
> >its hardware and software develop to the point where the *I*
> phenomenon
> >(which I doubt is a meme) happens. It is well established that the
> >conceptual distinction between self and environment occurs in stages.
>
> I read something in "The Myth of Irrationality"
> <http://virus.lucifer.com/books/myth.html>
> that would suggest otherwise: namely that feral children don't seem to
> be
> infected by the "I" meme which suggests that it is learned from other
> humans.
>
According to my notes ;-) it isn't actually learned from
others, but develops as a result of social interaction.
Due to a genetically inherited tendency towards
empathy, we experience other people somewhat
differently than other objects in the environment.
Eventually, we learn to identify with them, part of
which process is realizing that, just as "I" look to
them not-too-differently than they look to me, so
they have feelings not too dissimilar from mine.
"I" haven't really got this clear yet, but <I> appears
at some stage during that developmental phase.
IMHO!

Robin