[MD] Social Darwinism

[david buchanan]

Ian said:
Meme is just a word I use, loaded with possible misrepresented connotations, 
but a private language is just not possible, I use it and look out for the 
misunderstandings and misrepresentations.

dmb says:
Yea, I know. Meme is just a word you use. Like "social darwinism", 
"intelligent design","suspension of disbelief" and other terms in common 
currency, you use words without understanding what they really mean, where 
they come from, what they imply. And when somebody like me complains about 
this abuse of meaning, you attack the dictionary or mock the notion of 
definition. This is what makes you the King. (of drivel)

Or so it seems to me. If there is a way to make the MOQ compatible with the 
theory of memes, it would surprize me. I thought the MOQ replaced the 
mechanized view of evolution in favor a volitional one even at the 
biological level. So to then transfer darwinian mechanisms to the evolution 
of language seems to reverse the correction and double the error. What could 
be worse than a mechanistic, materialistic theory of meaning? Isn't "Meme" 
exactly the kind of absurdity we get when we try to explain culture in terms 
of material and mechanical operations? I think so.

But maybe this is where the misunderstandings and misrepresentions are 
factored in and maybe they are mine rather than yours. I don't know. You 
tell me.

dmb

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