----- Original Message -----
From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 1:09 PM
Subject: RE: new article
> Thanks again Derek, for another interesting article link.
>
> The notion of quantitative changes resulting in qualitative changes, is
> actually quite familiar to me- albeit not in the context or terminology of
> this anthropology piece- in media studies. Debates about the inherent
> differences between_mass_communication and other forms of communication,
or
> mass media and other media, are a major part of media studies.
>
> Here too, there is the sense, in many authors' (most notably I suppose is
> McLuhan) work is the idea that mass communication profoundly alters social
> relations, due ultimately to its large scale.
>
> Incidentally is the reference to flight in the piece right? Am aircraft
> flying isn't simply about going very fast is it, it's about having a
surface
> to generate lift (which is why Thrust 2 could travel at nigh on mach 1
> without leaving the ground). A rocket on the other hand....
>
> My computer is having near terminal problems, so if I leave the group for
a
> while (hooray I hear you all shout!) without responding to posts,
> apologies... I shall return!
>
> Vincent
>
> > ----------
> > From: Gatherer, D. (Derek)
> > Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 8:49 am
> > To: 'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'
> > Subject: new article
> >
> > The transition from quantity to quality: A neglected causal mechanism in
> > accounting for social evolution
> > Robert L. Carneiro
> > American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024
> > Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 97, Issue 23, 12926-12931, November 7,
> > 2000
> >
> > Students of social evolution are concerned not only with the general
> > course
> > it has followed, but also with the mechanisms that have brought it
about.
> > One such mechanism comes into play when the quantitative increase in
some
> > entity, usually population, reaching a certain threshold, gives rise to
a
> > qualitative change in the structure of a society. This mechanism, first
> > recognized by Hegel, was seized on by Marx and Engels. However, neither
> > they
> > nor their current followers among anthropologists have made much use of
it
> > in attempting to explain social evolution. But as this paper attempts to
> > show, in those few instances when the mechanism has been invoked, it has
> > heightened our understanding of the process of social evolution. And, it
> > is
> > argued, if the mechanism were more widely applied, further understanding
> > of
> > the course of evolution could be expected to result.
> >
> > Available at:
> >
> > http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/23/12926
> >
> > ===============================================================
> > This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> > Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> > For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> > see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
> >
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
>
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