Αχ, αυτή η καθαρότητα της νεοτερικότητας...όταν γύρω μας υπάρχουν μόνο δίκτυα, υβρίδια και συναρμογές. Αν έχει ένα καλό ο μεταμοντερνισμός είναι ότι καταδείχνει την ψευδαίσθηση των σαφών ορίων. Επειδή φαίνεται ότι κανείς δεν διαβάζει τα άρθρα που παραθέτω, απολογούμαι εξαρχής για τη μοκέτα.
In his
The Selfish Gene Dawkins seeks to advance a new cultural Darwinism by interpreting evolution of culture in terms of memetics. He argues that the concentration on the gene as the unit of selection is unhelpful when it comes to understanding the evolution of modern man. However, he simply fails to appreciate the immense complications which the notion of 'memes' raises for a theory of human 'evolution'. To replace 'genes' with 'memes' as a basis for understanding 'culture' is to remain on the level of naturalism (as opposed to artificiality). Memetics completely reifies the process of cultural evolution since it has no insight into how such processes involve the technical and social mediation. The idea of culture develops in terms of a process of self-replication analogous to genetic evolution is an assertion at best and completely unfounded.
In spite of his efforts to distance himself from philosophy, Dawkins's influential theory of the selfish gene is a 'replication' of a recognizable philosophical position, that of distinctly Shopenhauerean kind. Brian Goodwin has noted how Dawkins's argument breaks into an essentially religio-metaphysical doctrine, along the following lines: (a) Organisms are composed of groups of genes whose 'goal' is 'selfishly' to leave more copies of themselves (in other words, life is born in sin and our inheritance is a 'base' one); (b) the inherently selfish qualities of this hereditary material find expression in the competitive interactions between epiphenomenal organisms which result in the survival of the fitter variants that are generated by the more 'successful' genes; (c) the struggle for life is endless on account of the fact that the 'fitness landscape', in which organisms evolve and compete with one another, keeps changing (for which we read: we are condemned to a life of conflict and perpetual toil); (d) paradoxically, human beings are able to develop altruistic behaviour that works against their selfish endowment through the training of education and culture (that is, by faith and moral effort humanity can be saved from its fallen, selfish state).
Goodwin, B (1995),
How the Leopard Changed Its Spots: The Evolution of Complexity, London, Phoenix. pp 29-30 quoted in Ansell-Pearson, K (1997),
Viroid Life: Perspectives on Nietzsche and the Transhuman Condition, London: Routledge. pp 12-13.
Kαι:
If we bracket Dawkins' troubling Platonic and neo-Darwinian undercurrent, the interesting point in meme theory is how it historically participates (although carrying very different political undertones) in the same discussion of recent years of post-Fordist philosophy.
The Selfish Gene and the attempt to find explanatory tools to conceptualise cultural ideas and practices in an informational fashion resonates deeply with the turn towards post-Fordist production of affects and ideas. Interestingly, memes can be seen as objectifications of immaterial labour packaged as consumer-products -of the digital culture industry, to be more precise. In Dawkins' example, memes can be "tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes, fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches", - where most of these examples given are consumer products - or participate in the control capitalism of marketing and incorporeal transformations. In addition, the politics of governing and contorl are removed from the evolutionary patterns of meme theories, which highlights its resonance with neo-liberal notions of self-governing and the emerging consumer sphere.
Parrika, J (2007)
Contagion and Repetition: On the Viral Logic of Network Culture Ephemera vol. 7(2) pp 292-293 available at:
www.ephemeraweb.org.
Ο ισχυρισμός ότι ισχύει η φυσική επιλογή στις συμβιωτικές θεωρείες είναι εντελώς εσφαλμένος. Άλλο ένα παράθεμα (πιο σύντομο αυτή τη φορά).
Symbiotic theories of evolution provide an alternative account concerning population thinking and evolution. They proceed in terms of transversal connections across populations )instead of a genealogical lineage) and heterogeneous assemblages (bacteria, animals, plans, humans, technology). See Parisi, L (2004),
Abstract Sex: Biotechnology and the Mutations of Desire . London&New York: Continuum Books. p. 141.
πηγή: Parrika, J (2007)
Digital Contagions: A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses . Peter Lang. pp 279-280.
Και κάτι τελευταίο. Η σταθερότητα είναι αυταπόδεικτη από τη σκοπιά της κλασικής θερμοδυναμικής από την οποία αντλεί ο Ντόκινς με περισσή βολή. Φυσικοί που ασχολούνται με δυναμικά συστήματα ή συστήματα εκτός ισορροπίας θα έλεγαν άλλα πράγματα, όπως πχ ότι οι βράχοι και οι γαλαξίες είναι δυναμικά συστήματα με διαφορετικές χρονικές κλίμακες. Ο Ντόκινς, φυσικά, αρκείται στην εξαιρετικά επιστημονική διατύπωση: «που διαρκεί για αρκετό καιρό ώστε να αξίζει να την ονοματίσουμε». Καλά έλεγε ο Χάιντεγκερ αναφερόμενος στους θεωρητικούς της κλασσικής μηχανικής: Μα αυτοί γράφουν νόμους για την κίνηση και δεν ξέρουν τι είναι χρόνος.
