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Crank Frank Determinism
Steve Mizrach (SEEKER1@NERVM.NERDC.UFL.EDU)
Fri, 18 Feb 1994 23:34:31 -0500
>All of culture is geared to turn people into machines.
That is an opinion. Some people believe the purpose of culture is to turn
screaming little baby animals into human beings. Cf. The Raw and the
Cooked.
>We are simply reflective about it.
Ah, one of the big differences between my computer and the wetware in my
own skull... but such a big difference!
>And our particular culture is self-delusional about it.
No, I think it is rather '*frank*' about it, Frank. What are Taylorism,
etc., if not systems for turning human beings into more efficient
production machines? And other memetic systems for turning them into meme
production machines?
>Culture in all its aspects is an evolutionary tool.
Define "evolutionary." Please.
>There is effective/adaptive culture and then there is other culture that
>is not effective and is not capable of ensuring the survival of it's users.
Culture is for more than ensuring survival. Anthropoids were surviving
without it before, and they could survive without it again, they just might
not be living as long or as happily. If culture was just a survival device,
it wouldn't be very interesting to study. Oxygen tanks and sewage treatment
plants are culture, this I agree with Bob Graber; but then, so are sex chat
900 numbers, pet rocks, Polish jokes, and lava lamps, which do not aid
survival value.
>EJ "Frank Determinist" Ford
Seeker1 [@Nervm.Nerdc.Ufl.Edu] (real info available on request)
Anthropomorphist, Metanoid, Lerian, MatrixWanderer, HyperRealist, etc.
Rhipidon Society, VALISystem A, Sol Node 3
"Philip K. Dick is dead, alas/ Let's queue up and kick G-d's ass." --
Michael Bishop, the Secret Ascension
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