The Evolution Of Science Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Edelman (1992: 207-8):

Memory underlies meaning. With the transformation of meaning made possible by the embodiment of concepts as described by the TNGS, it became possible within human cultural history to develop true information-processing systems. The historical development of science by social transmission in human culture has made it possible for us to loop back into the truth through chains of knowledge. But unlike the development of memory, this explosive transmission is no longer Darwinian. It follows Lamarckian rules because of the character of informational systems and the nature of meaning itself. The contents of informational systems are transferred by use; no genetic hereditary principle is needed. The transfer is to somatic systems, each one unique, and the results have been stunning — the transformation of the environment by the human mind in ways that are both valuable and horrendous.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, it is the construal of experience as the meaning of language that made it "possible within human cultural history to develop true information-processing systems".

The "explosive transmission" of science in human culture is indeed Darwinian, and not Lamarckian, because the material basis of (change in) meaning is the (change in) somatic selection of variant neuronal groups in populations in individuals — as described by Edelman's TNGS — in human populations, over generations.