[ExI] are all cultures equivalent?

Eschatoon Magic eschatoon at gmail.com
Sun Apr 12 16:40:20 UTC 2009


As it is probably evident, I am more in the relativist camp. I think
you are probably right on "it appears to me the ones who consider
their own culture superior have a memetic advantage". But it can, I
hope, be compensated by other memetic advantages.

On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 6:32 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
>
>> ...On Behalf Of Eschatoon Magic
> ...
>> I just want to prove that we are not better than them...
> ...
>> But don't give me crap about us being better than them,
>> because we are not. We are al humans. Humans are nasty to
>> each other and fight. Let's acknowledge this basic darwinian
>> fact and hope to become able to do something about it, but
>> without any "ethical" crap about the alleged superiority of
>> our culture...
>
>
> Esch, this one caught my attention because it points out a fundamental
> schism in human thought.  It divides humanity in a way that is not racial or
> even cultural.  There exists among some humans a bedrock belief that all
> cultures are, at some fundamental level, equivalent.  Among others, an
> equally strong fundamental notion that some cultures are better than others.
>
> Which are you and why?
>
> Step back from the original religion based question, and look at it from an
> amoral top level point of view.  Think carefully about your answer.  Your
> first comment is you want to prove we are not better.  Why do you want to
> prove that yours is not better?  Wouldn't you want to create a better
> society?  What if the others agree with you that you are not better?  They
> argue that they are better than you.  Do you then want to prove they are not
> better than you?  What if they are murderously outraged by that notion, and
> wish to violently demonstrate otherwise?
>
> What I am asking is about the conflict of two memesets, a full step back
> from the religion notion, and one we discussed here a few years ago.  If the
> entire world is divided into two equal sized groups, one with the memeset
> that all cultures are equivalent, and the other with memeset that their own
> culture is superior to the those who say cultures are equivalent.  In the
> long run, it appears to me the ones who consider their own culture superior
> have a memetic advantage.
>
> spike
>
>
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-- 
Eschatoon Magic
http://cosmeng.org/index.php/Eschatoon
aka Giulio Prisco
http://cosmeng.org/index.php/Giulio_Prisco



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