John: Bloom is a very limited use of this concept, and is racially
biased
against Arabs (and religiously biased against Islam). A far better
treatment is Susan J. Blackmore and Richard Dawkin's treatment in the
Meme Machine.
Gerry: How can you accuse Bloom of being racist and anti-Islamic! At
least give him a chance to defend himself! Furthermore, Blackmore and
Dawkins are interested in the "selfish" aspect of the gene i.e.
individual survival. As far as the group, both Blackmore and Dawkins
cling to the idea of memetic evolution where everyone goes with the
flow. They have gone from miniscule to maxi but as yet they haven't
reached a synthesis. And it's this synthesis between individual and
group that becomes most important. Especially when it comes to Race
Issues.
> Glen: As well, I am starting to believe that this
is
> our
> ultimate future, where the individual is unimportant and whose sole
> purpose
> is to serve the collective as a whole. The analogy is similar to how
> heart
> cells first start by beating individually to their own erratic rhythm
> and
> then they eventually learn to beat together as one larger unit. The
life
> and
> death of any individual heart cell becomes unimportant because the
> heart
> itself continues to beat
Gerry: But only if we allow the individual to disappear. A group
effort to keep the heart functioning is as important as citizens keeping
democracy operational. However, in order for an operational democracy
to function, the individuals must be allowed to pursue their own
interests. If not, then an autocracy develops. This is what happened in
the 1930s when Hitler came to power. Folks bought into his promises and
joined the bandwagon.
John: Societies that go in this direction are
defective, less creative, less adaptive than those which stress both
individuality and community. I feel you are responding to the
nightmare polarity I spoke of above.
Gerry: Exactly. And as I've repeatedly stated, both individual and
community are what's important.
Gerry
--
Gerald Reinhart
Independent Scholar
(650) 321-7378
waluk@...
http://www.alekseevmanuscript.com