Re: virus: Re: Rationality

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Tue, 4 Mar 1997 09:36:00 -0800 (PST)


On Mon, 3 Mar 1997 jonesr@gatwick.geco-prakla.slb.com wrote:

> Prof. Tim wrote:
>
> > All the mechanisms you are /aware of/ are memes.
>
> I thought that one could be in possession of memes without being
> necessarily aware of them. Would you agree?

Oh, quite. But in order for you to become aware of any impulse, whether
memetic in nature or otherwise, it needs to be translated into a language
your operating system (consciousness) can understand, ie. memes.

There's no contradiction in saying that everything that you are aware of
is a meme and there are some memes you're not aware of. (Every car I own
is a VW, but there are some VW's I don't own (thank god!))

> > > This means that whatever you do, a meme
> > > has been the factor which prompts the action.
> >
> > Again, I don't see it that way. A meme is the tool your non-conscious
> > mind uses to tell your consciousness why it did the said action.
>
> So memes are justifications for actions, and not the reason for the action?
> Hmmm ... I'm not sure I agree...

Not justifications, as such. Just the protocol the non-conscious mind
uses to inform the conscious (and, maybe, vise-versa). It's far to
complicated for the non-conscious mind to say, "excessive heat was
registered at body location 23.456.12 and as a result muscles numbers 937,
939, and 1123 thru 1147 were fired in sequence reference number 781 in an
attempt to avert possible damage to regions 23.456.12 and surrounding,
please note these changes in present location of region 23.456.12 and
check for damage to region." Instead the non-conscious goes to the old
lexicon of internal memes an picks "fire bad" and "move hand quickly" and
shoots them up into the conscious mind.

> > BTW have
> > you read _The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-Cameral
> > Mind_?
>
> I havn't. Any chance of a brief run down before I consider it?

No, go to hell!!! :)

Well, actually several other people have beat me to it

Prof. Tim