virus: Re: Dawkin's (anthropomorphisms)

B. Lane Robertson (metaphy@hotmail.com)
Sat, 06 Jun 1998 10:56:05 PDT


Words like "selfish" which refer to a state in
(emotional) process may be our best choice for
speaking about a molecular formation of the
components of an instinct, as such words are able to
name the conceptual sum of a formula whose parts
create a phenomena of self (signifier),
self-negation (objectification), and ego (or
"ideal"-- the symbolic, or "molecular" continuation
of self objectified and personified as a complex of
drives ["emotional"-- to the extent that they are
not fixed as "instinct"]). Thus, the objective
representation of an instinct (phenotype) is only
"driven" to adapt to a symbolic, or ego- objectified
(personalized?), environment to the degree that the
fantasy (or ideal) might offer a genotypal "meme"
which can be transmitted as a signal to modify the
drive in line with (or contrary to) the instinct.

While I use the term "meme" in a way which is
similar to instinct (and represent it as a molecular
form of certain fixed drives-- such that it might
survive to the extent that the drives are not
modified); there is a "viral" form of the meme which
operates in compound formulation when the viral form
interacts with other unstable memes (viable
instincts) such that their "molecular" structure is
open to modification through the drives, themselves,
as influenced by the (symbolic) environment (or
fantasy).

If we assume that the phenotype is represented in
the moment within the individual, and that the
genotype is represented by the environment or across
the population of other phenotypes in various states
of viability (activated by drives to various
degrees); then we can assume that the evolutionary
mechanism suggested for the genetic embodiment of
phenotype into genotype is "symbolically"
represented between the individual and his
environment (and in an objective way) such that the
manipulation of the fantasized environment (and the
resultant drive's manipulation of the objective
environment) might modify the ENVIRONMENT in a way
which favors a particular genetic makeup in a
predictably ordered fashion over time (though
according to certain preferred patterns and to the
destruction of drive-- such is my preference and
understanding).

B. Lane Robertson
Indiana, USA
http://www.window.to/mindrec
Bio: http://members.theglobe.com/bretthay
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