From: Walter Watts (wlwatts@home.com)
Date: Wed Jan 23 2002 - 16:06:42 MST
Chris,
The following URL might be of some assistance in further obfuscation of
an already enigmatic point of taxonomically challenged semantics.
http://forum.javien.com/XMLmessage.php?id=id::TWIObAtt-LWcv-SD1l-VUtD-AUgnaBB4KQBb
Promise to read on in the thread at least until you get to my brilliant
analogy of memes with zip files at:
http://forum.javien.com/XMLmessage.php?id=id::dlB@LQ0L-XHFD-Bi8M-MV5Z-QSoGTVpMWGNs
Or, for another truly insightful parallelism, try:
http://forum.javien.com/XMLmessage.php?id=id::Vxk7HHZP-BREm-Bg8N-OhVV-L1UvMixrTwUE
Walter
Chris Donaldson wrote:
> Hello all- I'm new to this list and memetics in general. So far, I've
> read Bloom's The Lucifer Principle and have just started Brodie's
> Virus of the Mind. Anyway, using Brodie's definition of a meme: "...a
> unit of information in a mind whose existence influences events such
> that more copies of itself get created in other minds." Maybe I'm
> missing something, but what is the difference between an "idea" and a
> "meme"? They seem synonymous. The idea that ideas, depending on their
> ability to "survive" where others fade into obscurity (by providing
> useful constructs from which to base observations or provide a
> framework for reality for instance) doesn't seem new. The idea that
> individuals who relate to or invest in these ideas would be compelled
> to do what is needed for the survival of said religion or government
> or whatever doesn't seem profound. The negative aspects of mass media
> aren't secret. This metameme/idea was engineered around the same time
> as various computer related technologies were maturing and entering
> into public consciousness. Could it be that memetics is just a re-hash
> or "cyberizing" of existing (read well worn) social theory. What's
> really novel here besides the vocabulary? I really don't mean do be
> too negative or overly challenging with my first post. These are the
> questions that I have been asking myself since beginning to read Virus
> and your list seems a good place to air them. Also, and on a more
> positive note, has there been any credible work related to the
> philosophic implications of memetic theory or practical ethical/moral
> applications?
-- Walter Watts Tulsa Network Solutions, Inc. "To err is human. To really screw things up requires a bare-naked command line and a wildcard operator."
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