Re: Ancestral Extropians?

Natasha Vita-More (natasha@natasha.cc)
Tue, 06 Jul 1999 19:27:25 -0700

At 05:43 PM 7/6/99 PDT, Robert wrote:

>It would be more useful (IMHO), to differentiate between
>"created" memes and "inherited" memes. Inherited memes
>(male or female) are the result of a natural selection
>"agenda" which we have never (historically) influenced.
>
>A more fundamental question becomes whether males *and*
>females can divorce themselves from their non-chosen
>genetic programs and write their own script or whether
>we will remain shadows or offspring of those unconsciously
>derived agendas?
>
>A few years ago, I seem to recall an article about a
>scientist discovering a branch of fungi which had
>a dozen or more "sexes".
>
>Why do we have to confine ourselves to perspectives
>"tainted" by the genetic tree we happen to currently
>be in?

Thanks Robert, I agree with you.

My initial comment was based on the fact that I grow not only tired, but weary of historical accounts focusing on any one type of thinking and/or contribution to cultural advances. I think it is important to recognize that ideas within the culture stem from many sources. Some of these sources are more subtle than others, yet just as poignant. Ignoring this is not a fair and complete account of our branching tree, nor its roots.

I'm more interested in the quality and "rounded" (no pun intended) influence of meme breeders. By rounded I am referring to the scope of the breeder and all the areas of thought and ideas that affect our lives. I do not have a strong background in science fiction, yet I have been involved in transhumanism, and speaking and writing on transhumanist ideas publically, since the early 1980s. How did I get the memes? I got them from individual works that gave me a broad reference point, rather than a narrow one. Works in the arts, astronomy, psychology, sociology, health, athletics, the domain of mothering, nurturing, loving, sexuality, zoology, journalism, etc.

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