X-Message-Number: 4578 Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 10:24:38 -0700 From: John K Clark <> Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Dawkins and Evolution -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- 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 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.i iQCzAgUBL/QxHX03wfSpid95AQGZtQTvflyy6GWDdB4QgWnNWzWaaInnkfhqemf+ HztXBn7dV76PLj9pMRoBdJPjRT/qkGavHm/EakUbrniX4OPaIxef6w25FBJ4Pce+ x4pwFPwIa7IlDTQHt109hm8NjDbZYi6ABrSfDLQxS57fDflK0xwxx6H6eMx32c5C 1aPdWee5CM0QYIk+PzxomdBcchW91NZ2bWWfSMhErsxgv1Dzr8Y= =cSvs -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4578