Re: virus: Faith, Logic and Purpose

David McFadzean (david@lucifer.com)
Thu, 20 Nov 1997 12:29:56 -0700


At 11:06 AM 11/20/97 -0800, Marie Foster wrote:

>The axe falls again. Chop *something* and now we have religion vs
>science. Let the battle begin... Both religion and science are man's
>attempt to resolve his dilema over who he is in relationship to the
>unknown. Both have strengths and both have weaknesses. After all they
>are mankind's inventions.

I agree with the intent of this paragraph, science and religion need
not be opposed (hence the CoV).

>Let me again ask a question. If we agree that evolution has happened to
>move us from an earlier version of being to our present state, was there
>a point in time when we *were not human* and then we *became human*?

No, because "human" is a fuzzy category. We are human now; 100 million
years ago there were no humans. A few million years ago there was
a species (our ancestors) that was neither human, nor not-human, but
something in between.

>I would contend that the moment one of our prior selves decided that
>he/she was separate from the unknown is the point where consciousness
>happened. This was the birth of the ego. The first meme. The fact
>that it was a wrong guess set us on a path that may well end in oblivion
>unless we figure out how to correct it.

That was the birth of the "I" meme, the origin of subjectivity. I don't
think it was necessarily the first meme.

>If we can not get beyond this first erroneous meme, I contend we will
>never move as a species to a new evolutionary level.

If it wasn't for this "erroneous meme" as you call it, we would still
be animals by today's standards. Personally I see culture as our
greatest creation.

--
David McFadzean                 david@lucifer.com
Memetic Engineer                http://www.lucifer.com/~david/
Church of Virus                 http://www.lucifer.com/virus/