X-Message-Number: 4578
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 10:24:38 -0700
From: John K Clark <>
Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Dawkins and Evolution

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In  #4575 On  30 Jun 95  Mike Darwin <> Wrote:
	    
		 >Did it ever occur to the Master Evolutionist [Dawkins] that
		 >there might be  a very good EVOLUTIONARY reason why             
		 >everybody wants to believe in this  crap? [Creationism] 
		
I'm quite sure the answer to your question would occur to a man
as brilliant as Richard Dawkins, especially since he practically
invented the field. Ideas (memes) or genes are interested in
only one thing, reproducing themselves. Ideas need minds to help
them reproduce, genes need bodies . Sometimes these reproductive
entities are beneficial to their host, sometimes they are not,
they don't care, the only thing important to them is that they
are reproduced. A meme that says " believe in me and you will
live in bliss forever, if you don't believe in me a benevolent
God will torture you fiendishly for all eternity" has a
reproductive advantage over many other memes.  Over time the
meme would mutate and only the most contagious variations would
survive thereby increasing it's virulence. The fact that this
meme is as detrimental to the mind as the AIDS virus is
detrimental to the body has no bearing on it's reproductive
success, provided the host lives long enough to pass on the meme
before it is destroyed, that's why " suicide is evil" is part of the meme.
	

					John K Clark           

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