Tim wrote:
[RB] >The main tool: only take advice from people with lives you like.
<<I would not like to copy the life of Van Gogh, but his brushstrokes and textures... now those are some really great memes worthy of replication!>>
If you like that aspect of his life, then modeling his technique would seem entirely appropriate. The great thing about Level 3 is that you can juggle different operating methods as appropriate. I wouldn't model his attitudes about women or family...
<<But again, how would you make that kind of distinction--between the holder
of wheaty memes and those simply stuffed with chaff--if you were to met a
modern Van Gogh, say, down the street in a coffee shop, sans his oils?
(And this is a serious question I'm asking here, BTW.)>>
As I understand your question, Tim, you're asking how I can be sure I'm not
missing out on the opportunity to meet someone incredibly great because he
has not yet done, or I am not yet aware of, incredibly great things that I
wish to model. The answer lies with my purpose. When I am clear about my
purpose, I find people appropriate to it. When I'm not, some other criterion
(usually short-term gratification) takes over and leads me off track.
Sometimes I am a teacher and sometimes I am a student. Generally, meeting anyone who wants to learn from me is on purpose. As for teachers, I studiously avoid ones with lives I do not admire.
Results speak. That is the only true test of memetic programming. All the rest is handwaving.
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme"
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