Re: virus: Re: What does it mean to be me?

From: David McFadzean (david@lucifer.com)
Date: Mon Nov 03 2003 - 21:13:39 MST

  • Next message: David McFadzean: "Re: virus: Re: What does it mean to be me?"

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Keith Henson" <hkhenson@rogers.com>

    > I think this is an abuse of the term. Memes are replicating information
    > patterns. "I" is not. You don't need to hear about some "I" meme in order
    > to have an identity.

    For an alternate (and somewhat controversial) view, see Susan Blackmore's The
    Meme Machine.
    As far as I can tell her Buddist memes cause her to want to reject her "I"
    meme.

    It is possible that you are infected by an "I" meme when you are an infant. A
    controlled
    experiement is very unlikely for ethical reasons, but there are cases of feral
    children
    raised by animals. These children miss the window to learn language (which
    seems to be
    limited to the first 3 years or so) and so never have a stream of consciousness
    identity
    like we do. They may have an identity like animals experience, but not like
    normal
    humans; they don't host an "I" mean in the literal sense of saying the word "I"
    with
    meaning to themselves or anyone else.

    David

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