Re: virus: Extrocranial Memes

sodom (Sodom@ma.ultranet.com)
Tue, 11 Aug 1998 12:02:55 -0400


C.A. Cook wrote:

> sodom wrote:
> >Ill use my favorite subject - religion. fMRI shows activity in a particular
> >area of the brain when people are thinking about or feeling religious.
> People
> >like myself, who have no sense of "spirituality" possibly will never have
> this
> >part of my brain active in the same way. Does this part of the brain cause
> the
> >release of neurochemicals that effect the retention of the meme? or in my
> >case deter retention of the meme? I have no idea, but I bet the fMRI will
> help to
> >answer these.
>
> do you have any references for this? 'feeling religious' is very vague.
>

I actually watched this on a TLC special about the brain. I am not sure I
remember the exact episode, but, I did see it in a video store not too long ago,
Ill try to find it. At any rate, The point is that different types of thought,
and different subjects are handled in different areas of the brain.

> on another note, over the last few daze I have noticed you urging the study
> of
> the brain prior to the study of memes. I have managed to hold back some
> very caustic replies to these posts, and I hope to be able to continue.
> I searched my internet resources for this study you mention, but without
> luck.
> as for your urging, I certainly don't want to stop any research that will
> lead
> to a better understanding of memes, but I am not a brain fanatic. I am
> a mind fanatic. for me, the discussion of the evolutionary aspect of memes
> is more revealing to the nature of the mind than even the most advanced of
> brain scanning technology available today. if brain scanning were more
> advanced, perhaps I would feel more compelled to study it.
>
> corey

For me it is very much a combination of things. I think understanding the
brain is vital, but understanding the historical/evolutionary aspects are also
vital. It is most certainly a complicated and convoluted combination of the
physical and informational. I do agree that more can be gleamed from an
evolutionary aspect of the meme about memes, but without knowledge of brain
functioning, the tstudy of memes is still untidy and subject to gross error.

Sodom
Bill Roh