NL888 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Memetic selection, if you like that way of putting it; not if you don't?
1) Does "the origination process covers its tracks" mean "the origination process covers the origination's tracks"?
2) Does "memetic selection, if you like that way of putting it; not if you don't" mean "memetic selection, if you like that way of putting it; not memetic selection if you don't like that way of expressing it"?
Context:
I don't want to make too much of the cargo cults of the South
Pacific. But they do provide a fascinating contemporary model for
the way religions spring up from almost nothing. In particular, they
suggest four lessons about the origin of religions generally, and I'll
set them out briefly here. First is the amazing speed with which a
cult can spring up. Second is the speed with which the
origination process covers its tracks. John Frum, if he existed at all, did so
within living memory. Yet, even for so recent a possibility, it is not
certain whether he lived at all. The third lesson springs from the
independent emergence of similar cults on different islands. The
systematic study of these similarities can tell us something about
human psychology and its susceptibility to religion. Fourth, the
cargo cults are similar, not just to each other but to older religions.
Christianity and other ancient religions that have spread worldwide
presumably began as local cults like that of John Frum. Indeed,
scholars such as Geza Vermes, Professor of Jewish Studies at
Oxford University, have suggested that Jesus was one of many such
charismatic figures who emerged in Palestine around his time, sur-
rounded by similar legends. Most of those cults died away. The one
that survived, on this view, is the one that we encounter today. And,
as the centuries go by, it has been honed by further evolution
(memetic selection, if you like that way of putting it; not if you
don't) into the sophisticated system - or rather diverging sets of
descendant systems - that dominate large parts of the world today.
The deaths of charismatic modern figures such as Haile Selassie,
2) Does "memetic selection, if you like that way of putting it; not if you don't" mean "memetic selection, if you like that way of putting it; not memetic selection if you don't like that way of expressing it"?
Context:
I don't want to make too much of the cargo cults of the South
Pacific. But they do provide a fascinating contemporary model for
the way religions spring up from almost nothing. In particular, they
suggest four lessons about the origin of religions generally, and I'll
set them out briefly here. First is the amazing speed with which a
cult can spring up. Second is the speed with which the
origination process covers its tracks. John Frum, if he existed at all, did so
within living memory. Yet, even for so recent a possibility, it is not
certain whether he lived at all. The third lesson springs from the
independent emergence of similar cults on different islands. The
systematic study of these similarities can tell us something about
human psychology and its susceptibility to religion. Fourth, the
cargo cults are similar, not just to each other but to older religions.
Christianity and other ancient religions that have spread worldwide
presumably began as local cults like that of John Frum. Indeed,
scholars such as Geza Vermes, Professor of Jewish Studies at
Oxford University, have suggested that Jesus was one of many such
charismatic figures who emerged in Palestine around his time, sur-
rounded by similar legends. Most of those cults died away. The one
that survived, on this view, is the one that we encounter today. And,
as the centuries go by, it has been honed by further evolution
(memetic selection, if you like that way of putting it; not if you
don't) into the sophisticated system - or rather diverging sets of
descendant systems - that dominate large parts of the world today.
The deaths of charismatic modern figures such as Haile Selassie,
Top answer
1) Yes. It covers its own tracks, so literally "the origination process covers the origination process's tracks" (of course one would never say that). "cover its/one's tracks" is a set expression.
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1) Yes. It covers its own tracks, so literally "the origination process covers the origination process's tracks" (of course one would never say that). "cover its/one's tracks" is a set expression.
2) Yes.
2) Yes.
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