integer on Mon, 15 May 2000 17:22:29 +0200 (CEST) |
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to kenneth <kmcleod56@hotmail.com> "You've got more memes than brains, " To: nettime@lo.tekk "You've got more genes than memes, " = hou ter!bl! rel!g!ouz kardbord `You've got more memes than brains` >I received this answer to my nettime post 'Its not me its my genes, or is >it my memes?'. I think it is an interesting answer so I am fowarding it >(with the author's permission) to the list. > >Best. Ana > >=================================== >Date: Sun, 07 May 2000 16:06:03 -0400 >Subject: memes and genes >To: aviseu@oise.utoronto.ca >From: kenneth <kmcleod56@hotmail.com> > >The more we seem to advance along the parallel lines of cyber- and genetic >learning, a weird process is suggesting itself to me; a philosophical >devolution of the human concept from the ëparagon of animalsí to a metaphor >of the computer paradigm. Instead of finding new reforms for our models of >morality to take, that is, to have our humanity mature at a pace with our >new knowledge, we seem to be internalizing our technology. We speak of >ourselves as biological machines, wired by DNA, fated by our speciesí >programming. I canít help feeling that this is a sign of a self-justifying >excuse for society to apply 'medicine' where it sees a need for >'correction'; eugenics brushes dangerously along the territorial line of >prescribing 'cure' after the conclusion of 'diagnosis'. Itís starting to >sound like we need 'fixing', doesnít it? > >I see this approaching perspective as a greater danger than any amoral >license born of the 'boys will be boys' (or 'all men are dogs') school. I >donít see ourselves as some sort of fleshware lugging around irresistible >Neanderthal programming, waiting for some eugenicsí version of Prozac to >make us citizens. Chaos would perhaps be reduced in our daily lives, but so >would the growth that comes from imperfection. Lifestyles and good health >has been our alternative to surgery and medication; if we apply this >holistic outlook to our genetic profiles, we may still have the freedom to >be responsible for adjusting to this new knowledge of ourselves 'know who >and what you are, and thus take care of yourself'. I canít wait to tell >somebody, "Youíve got more memes than brains, buddy!" _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold