Tim wrote:
[I disagreed with Tim's assertion that my neighborhood was 50% populated
with blue-haired people with body piercing.]
<<...no actually, that kind of is the point. Your perceptions are framed by
True enough platitudes. Are you saying that you find me especially
[RB] >All true. But there's no shortage of memes.
<<...really? That is interesting. Do you think every social group has
Well, people certainly have POTENTIAL access to a wide variety of memes.
<<...have you ever wonder why you've never read anything from the great
Actually I have several friends in business and finance who exchange
wonderful haikus with me. Many of my friends at Microsoft write and even
record and publish music. As for stock tips, being an artist isn't
[RB] >The problem is selection. My heuristic for selection is to model
people
<<...and you'd be the first to admit that this choice of who to model--and
Not at all. The attitudes surrounding unhealthy lifestyles are a seductive
disease. Nothing is more fun than just following your curiosity
<<...but an important question here is this: Are the memes about how to live
Yes, by definition. Whatever, upon reflection, you choose to value in life,
is what is worth selecting for.
<<...would you only expose yourself to or utilize the memes that come from
No, I agree with you here. Exposure isn't the problem for anyone with a
degree of consciousness; it is selection. However, would you agree there is
a point of diminishing returns?
<<...Are you aware that there are developments in memetic technology being
were you go and who you see. Your focus is also a blinder for you. The
world you think exists around you--even in your own neighborhood--is limited
by your selection criteria.>>
access
to the same pool of memes to draw from? You're aware of the differential
development of memes in one localized environment as compared to another,
correct? And with the specialization that happens in small groups?
investment banker-poets of our time? Or why you seldom get good stock tips
from artists?>>
>with lives I like.
your acts of selection spawned by it--are a limitation for you in some
regards. (Or, at least would hope you'd admit that.) I'm sure it's a
limitation you've come to willingly accept as the price for surrounding
yourself with a certain type of lifestyle memes, but it is a limitation I'm
sure you're aware of nevertheless.>>
ones life the only ones out there worth selecting for?>>
individuals whose lives you might model? (This would seem a bit limiting,
IMHO.) I'd be like only talking to women you would date--while it may
increases your likelihood of finding a mate, but it does so at the expense
of a great many wonderful conversations never started. Selection always
comes at a price, as you well know.>>
created by those who lead the kinds of lives which you might never wish to
emulate? Are you missing out some important memetic diversity as a result?
No, I am not aware of this. What is an example?
<<...myself, I've learned quite a lot from the lives and works of
alcoholics,
drug addicts, suicide victims, criminals, etc. Even obsessive workaholics
or Republicans can have something offer if you're willing to listen. :-) >>
Well, I doubt you've had many conversations with suicide victims, but I would generally not advise consciously adopting attitudes of people whose lives you do not admire.
<<...Do you boldly seek out new memes, from new civilizations, that you
might
boldly go where no Brodie has gone before? Would that include the strange
little civilizations nested within your own neighborhood? If not... well,
why not?>>
I do seek out new memes, but I want to see the result first. I have no interest in modeling the alcoholics and day laborers who congregate on my block, regardless of how worthwhile they may be as human beings. Can you understand that?
<<...I don't expect you to even be aware of what you're missing--the example
That's vaguely insulting and, I think, wildly inaccurate. If
<<...or in other words: Your original comments may have spoken volumes, but
I appreciate your sticking up for the right of people to be different. You
are doing them a disservice, however, by belittling my message.
<<...and, yes, while it is the responsibility of the speaker tailor his
And so your point is that presentation skills don't make a difference? You
couldn't be more mistaken. Results speak.
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
of your perceptions of Belltown make that point clearly enough. Like they
say, you just won't find what you don't expect to see.>>
I
could have summed up my response in a much tidier package with just: "Hey,
old man, that white East-coast upbringing of yours is showing again!">>
message to the audience, nevertheless, some of the seeds will always
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme"
Free newsletter! http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm