The author discusses whether Girard was using a literary device when saying "all desire is memetic", and actually meant the weaker form "some desire is memetic" - and then dismisses the possibility, as the weak form is obvious and doubted by no one.
And it is certainly the case that some desire to swim is not memetic, otherwise no one would be able to swim, just like some people's desire to teleport cannot possibly be memetic, because it doesn't exist.
In a way, Girard's theory exists in parallel with Sapir-Whorf's, except with desire instead of language, in that its strong form imply new concepts cannot emerge - and like SW, that strong form doesn't hold up to evidence, while the weak form is trivially true.
> just like some people's desire to teleport cannot possibly be memetic, because it doesn't exist.
In general I agree with your criticism, but on this point I think you are off. The desire to teleport could be mimetic - I could learn it from someone else's desire, not from their reality.
You could indeed - and I could have been a lot clearer; that bit was just to point out that at least someone in the fairly recent past must have had an original desire. Or, at least, I do not know of any medieval text lamenting the lack of teleportation.
And it is certainly the case that some desire to swim is not memetic, otherwise no one would be able to swim, just like some people's desire to teleport cannot possibly be memetic, because it doesn't exist.
In a way, Girard's theory exists in parallel with Sapir-Whorf's, except with desire instead of language, in that its strong form imply new concepts cannot emerge - and like SW, that strong form doesn't hold up to evidence, while the weak form is trivially true.