Michael Hills <mhills@philips.oz.au> wrote:
> To go 'meta' on the these points, couldn't one just say that
> rationalism itself is a meme, just as religion is named one.
> In that case, by what right can you judge one meme (rationalism)
> better than another (religion, or any other irrational belief)??
This issue has been endlessly rehashed here on Virus -- must be my turn to
both support and denounce it by now!
The first point -- rationalism is a meme. True.
Second point -- non sequiter (it does not follow). I personally think
their are many grounds on which to judge one meme better (from *our*
perspective) than another. I happen to prefer procedural memes to
declarative ones (probably a generally shared Virian trait, eh?). In
addition, I like the self-consistency (irrational meme-sets have a tendency
to bloat and contradict themselves since all criteria for rejection become
arbitrary). And finally, I think that rationality has "proven" itself out
in the field -- this system really does work! (i.e. it really does help us
acquire the truth, which is what rationality promises, after all)
I think rationalities best trait as a meme is it's support of itself
(rationality IS rational, after all!). There's nothing quite like circular
causality (positive feedback loops) to support a good cause!
ERiC