Re: virus: By George,

Brett Lane Robertson (unameit@tctc.com)
Fri, 06 Feb 1998 04:23:19 -0500


Words, being culturally transmitted information, are memes. So is the
concept of God, and of blasphemy. Blasphemy is a more complex meme
structure, relying as it does on the context of an existing meme construct
(a religion), and supporting its own reproduction with the threat of hell
implied by that construct. Mm, self-referential.

--Eva

List,

I called "By God" an oath intuitively, I am rather surprised and grateful
that Eva has provided documentation which supports this "off the cuff"
observation.

I also think that Eva has hit on an important point when she says that
"Blasphemy is a more complex meme" in that it relies "on the context...". I
affirm that a meme MUST rely on a context (which is surely a requirement of
an abstract object, or symbol--that it is a representation of content within
context--for that is how it must *encode* the objective quality of content
as a contextual, symbolic, representation).

So she might also agree that "By God" is not a meme if taken outside of a
context (or a viral form seeking a context). On the other hand, would she
agree that "By God" is an integral part of a meme *complex*...or that as the
thesis of art and the anti-thesis of originality, that it might represent a
meme in process of transition?

Brett
Brett Lane Robertson
http://www.window.to/mindrec
MindRec ICQ "chat" UIN 6630756
I would rather suffer defeat than have cause to be ashamed
of victory.

Quintus Curtius