Re: virus: Re:Core beliefs

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Wed, 24 Dec 1997 03:03:22 -0800


D.H.Rosdeitcher wrote:

> To say that the supernatural exists only in minds, myths, and memes,
means
> that the supernatural doesn't really exist, but only the concept or
> meme-construct of it exists.

Not so. You have defined "exists" narrowly so that it excludes
meta-phenomena such as minds and memes. You seem to teeter on the edge
between the Platonic view of existence, where only concepts exist, and the
(shudder) Objectivist view that only the tangible has a "true" or "valid"
existence.

Do Romeo and Juliet exist? I dare say they have made a greater impact a
greater number of people than either you or I ever will.

Which makes me wonder. If we say that the supernatural exists only in
myths, minds and memes, are we not at the same time recognizing that this
"supernatural" is an emergant property generated from the natural world?
Or purhaps, from the Three M's themselves?

If we were to use chemical bonding as our criteria for existence, would a
gene, per se, exist?

-Prof. Tim