Re: virus: The Meme and the Hypothesis

B. Lane Robertson (metaphy@hotmail.com)
Mon, 17 Aug 1998 23:04:51 PDT


If anyone followed my explanation of a meme as a
pattern of organization by which a potential is
developed between a carrier and a host (a "charge"
by which the memetic pattern is replicated
according to the re-ordering of information stored
in the host's memeset); then, they might have hit
on several ways that this could be studied
experimentally.

As an example, and a hint toward designing an
experiment to test this memetic potential (and the
excitation of the host memesphere with the
discharge of the potential from the carrier):

"Habituation" studies have shown that babies look
at a representation of a face for a certain amount
of time before they become habituated to it and
their attention cannot be elicited by the
representation any more (measured in direction of
gaze, I think).

If we assume that the graphic representation is a
meme; then, we can assume a "potential" (or charge
differential) by which the capacity of the
"face"-- as a pattern for organizing information--
is transmitted to the mind of the baby... until
the point at which the meme is internalized (at
which time the memetic charge of the facial
representation has no more potential... signaling
a replication of the memetic pattern in the baby).

I assume that this transfer of potential can also
be measured as a "spike" of electrical energy...
and possibly, certain graphical representations
predetermined to be "memetic" might be shown to
elicit greater "spikes" than control graphics.

Comments?

B. Lane Robertson
Indiana, USA
http://www.window.to/mindrec
Bio: http://members.theglobe.com/bretthay
See who's chatting about this topic:
http://www.talkcity.com/chat.cgi?room=MindRec

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