Re: virus: Meaning, A Puzzle

Marie Foster (mfos@ieway.com)
Fri, 27 Feb 1998 09:14:20 -0800


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Now this is just too much. Two people on the list today get a big wet smacker
from me...

Marie

Deron Stewart wrote:

> A memetic puzzle for your consideration:
>
> In 1865 Gregor Mendel published work of fundamental importance. It made no
> impression during his own lifetime and was only "rediscovered" in 1902 by
> Sutton and Boveri who had arrived at similar ideas. Today he is practically
> a household name, second only to Darwin in his field, and his memetic star
> is still rising.
>
> If enduring fame is any reflection of a meaningful life then Mendel did
> very well. The only problem is he died without knowing it. If his work was
> never rediscovered or otherwise lost to obscurity he would be just another
> anonymous monk who had a thing for peas.
>
> So the meaningfulness of his life seems to have been an unanswered question
> at the time of his death. How is this possible? -- In other words it seems
> that either posthumous fame has no bearing on the meaning of one's life or
> that there is some mysterious backward causation taking place whereby
> future events can affect one's present life. Both possibilities seem cou
> nterintuitive...
>
> ...so what's the way out of the dilemma? (If I've convinced you that there
> is a dilemma, that is.)
>
> The first correct answer wins a set of steak knives :-)
>
> Deron

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