Re: virus: Experimental memes. was:Random thoughts & more poor
Robert Moritz (robertmoritz@earthlink.net)
Tue, 18 Aug 1998 02:59:32 -0500
the great tinkerer wrote:
>
> >> so what your saying is that information, such as negative numbers, is
> a
> >> meme?
> >
> >It must be information that replicates in other minds. If you invented
> >negative numbers on your own then took it to the grave with you, it
> >would not be a meme, just a potential meme up until the die you died.
>
> im basically trying to figure out where to draw the line between memes
> and information. after a little thought i came up with this argument.
> it comes down to a fact/opinion sorting. a meme is an idea (true or
> not) that is generally someones opinion or belief, but not a fact, that
> is transmitted from one mind to another.
> example:
> you can teach a student about naziism. or
> you can teach a student to be a nazi.
>
> teaching the facts about naziism is not sending a meme. it is
> information. the ideals and beliefs and opinions of naziism is a meme.
> also your opinions on naziism are a meme if you pass them onto someone
> else. another example: christianity is a religion (no meme)
> christianity is a bad relgion (meme) christianity causes its followers
> to act mean (meme) christianity is the only true religion and youll go
> to heaven if you believe (meme)
>
> the first statement could not be a meme. the second statement is a fact
> with the meme tied in (something our schooling does a lot when they
> teach classes specifically history) the third and fourth have no factual
> information and are just opinions and if they replicate from one mind to
> another they are memes.
> comments?
> ~the great tinkerer
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.comIsnt information what is believed to be the truth? No 'truth' can ever
be known, things can only really be believed as true. The example you
cited was 'Christianity is a religion' is not a meme. Present this
non-meme to an individual in a society that had never heard of
christianity(good luck finding one). this individual will spread this
non-meme(it has the meme quality of replication) to others for the mere
purpose of disseminating information. Now, our teachers showed us a
trick in elementary where everybody got in a line, the first person was
told a statement like 'there's a party on saturday'. each person
whispered this to the next, and when it got to the end, it had mutated
greatly to something like 'there's a big party all week long in malibu
and mike tyson's gonna be there'. so a factual statement mutated into a
more fit form(appealing to students) though it became untrue in the
process. So couldnt this 'christianity is a religion' mutate in the
same way in this society? So if it mutates to say 'Christianity is an
evil, foolish religion' it becomes a meme. before it mutated was it
not a meme? It was replicating.
robert