In a message dated 8/31/00 10:24:42 PM, T0Morrow@aol.com writes:
>Only
>at a very fundamental, arational level--seek social status, maximize
>pleasure/pain ratios, reproduce, and so forth--do values not rely on
>beliefs about facts. And at that level, almost everyone agrees.
I don't think so. I think our values are profoundly shaped by the
"values" of the genetic and memetic replicators which produce so
much of us. Those "values" are, of course, to replicate, and so
each replicator has a different value (replicating itself). Hence,
at that level, we don't agree, because my memes and genes aren't
the same set as yours.
Taking a memetic view, the distinction between facts and values
becomes less clear. Humans have beliefs, and hold them for varied
reasons. When the reason is that the belief has undergone scientific
tests, we call it a "fact"; otherwise we call it a "value". However,
a "fact" must also have some memetic replication or nobody will
bother to remember it - there's lots of ultra-trivia nobody cares
about. How many cornflakes were in your cereal last week?
Who cares? Nonetheless, no matter how
much something is a "fact", it must also be somewhat a "value" to
play a part in society. Unfortunately, the reverse doesn't hold.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:36:53 MDT