From: Guru George (gurugeorge@sugarland.idiscover.co.uk)
Date: Thu Jul 17 1997 - 16:28:13 MDT
On Thu, 17 Jul 1997 11:20:10 +0200 (MET DST)
Anders Sandberg <nv91-asa@nada.kth.se> wrote:
[snip]
>I'm not sure I buy McKenna's theory, but it is interesting to look at
>memetic mutation rates across history and see how they have changed.
>If his theory is right then we should see the fastest memetic
>evolution in societies where psychotropic substances were in use and
>less in societies where they weren't. Is there any evidence for this?
>
Well, what about our culture since the Sixties, for a (not very
rigorous!) kick off? For example, I remember reading somewhere that the
guy who thought up the idea of shareware (or was the first to put the
idea into action?) got the idea while tripping! Most computer nerds are
at least stoners, are they not? I bet you Gates and Jobs had a spliff
or two in their day.
Come to think of it, culture since the Sixties has been a veritable hot
house of memes! Another possible (and quite amusing) example: hands up
any libertarians here who read Rand while stoned or tripping during the
Sixties and really 'got it' (I mean really got what she had to offer
that was good, without being sucked into her, as a recent ng correspondent
of mine called it, 'glassy-eyed idealism')? There must have been a lot of
those!
Guru George
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