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Automobiles as Culture?
Steve Mizrach (SEEKER1@NERVM.NERDC.UFL.EDU)
Tue, 8 Feb 1994 20:07:34 -0500
>Bob Graber writes that he wants to be able to say that "Automobiles are a
>feature of our culture." He complains that McCreery's definition does not
>allow that, forcing him to say "Information about automobiles is part of our
>culture," leaving the actual object out.
If one can tell me how automobiles can come into existence without a
set of instructions for creating them (e.g. a program, or if you prefer --
I do -- a meme) then I will gladly concede that automobiles can exist
without information, representations, or anything mental.
Since all parts of material culture could not come into being without
mental formulations first, I see no point in differentiation. Material
culture requires minds. Denying this is foolishness.
If America was hit with a neutron bomb and all its automobiles were
still present, the "material culture" represented by the automobile would
still be present. And one could make inferences about the "mental culture"
of the "culture" which created those automobiles. But if the instructions
for making automobiles (and the rationalizations for their creation and
utilization) were no longer present... the culture is no longer present.
Seeker1 [@Nervm.Nerdc.Ufl.Edu] (real info available on request)
Anthropologist, Cybernaut, PoMoDemite, Noetician, Situationiste, et al.
University of Florida, Gainesville, Cosmic Nexus of the Universal Matrix
"'Tis an ill wind that blows no minds!" --Malaclypse the Younger
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