29 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
The Meme-Unit
It is possible that this appearance of non-particulateness is illusory, and
that the analogy with genes does not break down. After all, if we look at
the inheritance of many genetic characters such as human height or
skin-colouring, it does not look like the work of indivisible and
unblendable genes. If a black and a white person mate, their children do
not come out either black or white: they are intermediate. This does not
mean the genes concerned are not particulate. It is just that there ...Like genes, there is no particulate unit for memes. Sometimes we must look at a whole symphony, sometimes it's just a few notes.
19 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
DNA is not a Blueprint
Textbooks of biology repeat time and again that DNA is a
'blueprint' for building a body. It isn't. A true blueprint of, say, a car or a house embodies a one-toone
mapping from paper to finished product. It follows from this that a blueprint is reversible. It is
as easy to go from house to blueprint as the other way around, precisely because it is a one-to-one
mapping. Actually, it's easier, because you have to build the house, but you only have to take some
measurements and then draw the blu...You cannot reverse engineer DNA from the animal it appears within.