Re: virus: Experimental memes.
Robert Moritz (robertmoritz@earthlink.net)
Tue, 18 Aug 1998 14:37:41 -0500
Nathaniel Hall wrote:
>
> Wade T.Smith wrote:
> >
> > >If they answer the question correctly, they had to know the answer and
> > >therefore had the meme.
> >
> > I am not convinced that rote answering is any sort of meme at all- or an
> > indication of the prescence of one. Why are you?
>
> By the definition of a meme: an idea that duplicates itself into another
> mind. I'm not claiming that it's necessarily doing anything to behavior:
> just that it is there.
> >
> > And, as well, a situation where someone answers 'I am not a crook' to the
> > cops, while perhaps the 'correct' answer, the fact is, a test of
> > questions with expected answers is a highly complex and unreliable
> > indicator of memetic intent, ain't it? Honestly, where _are_ your
> > controls? Valuable psychological data only comes from highly structured
> > experiments, with rigid and narrow confines of data.
>
> Wade T. Smith
>
> A cop asking questions is one of the best examples of what not to do.
> A good technique would be to only ask questions where someone has no
> incentive to lie or better yet has the incentive to give the answer they
> truly believe is correct. Taking a test for a letter grade for example .
> The control would be asking a bunch of people the same question when you
> have no reason to believe they have been exposed to the meme in
> question. I'll admit the "black box" your trying to access is a tricky
> one but have you ever heard of an experiment with zero error?
>
> Nate Hall
Sodium penethol anyone?
Robert