Re: virus: RE: What does the replicating?

tom.holz (tom.holz@pobox.com)
Mon, 09 Jun 1997 22:23:34 -0400

>Some memes, however, seem rather the opposite -- they seem hell-bent on
>destroying as many people as possible. Such memes include those for modern
>warfare and drug use. Darwinian selection does not explain why they
>spread, since selection *opposes* them. In fact, the memes' best strategy
>for spreading themselves is to promote not killing but *procreation* of
>their carriers. In Richard's sense, the slogan of a *good* meme must be
>"Make Love, Not War."

The end-product of genetic evolution has far more inertia than the any
memetic system (or) The genes define (uh-oh, my favorite metaphor) the
hardware-memespace the memes can evolve in, by providing I/O, memory,
pattern recognition, etc. Both memetic and genetic evolution can get stuck
in --local optima-- (?), and backfire against themselves. That's part of
evolution (unfitness) Memes might have problems here because the evolve at
a much faster rate than genes. I think. I'm feeling a bit fuzzy mentally,
and need to go sleep.

wait. I imagine a large bowling ball stuck in a small dip, with a small
rabbit chained to it. together they form a creature. The ball is its
genes, and the rabbit it's memes. While the ball is slowly rolling, the
rabbit can scamper in all 360 degree, testing various paths very rapidly,
but it has very little effect on the genetic state of It.

tom.