Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id RAA13839 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 18 Feb 2000 17:29:33 GMT Subject: RE: meaning in memetics Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 12:28:21 -0500 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas est veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20000218173405.AAA22560@camail2.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>but can
>you not see the usefulness of studying something not particularly important
>in itself in order to understand general laws of nature?
Well no.... Importance is a bugaboo, though. It may be more useful to
study the _uselessness_ quotient of things like chain letters, as
time-wasters and manipulative annoyances.
But I really do think there are better things to do within memetics than
gather info about the crap, and look more at the sewage system itself.
Because I see not just feedback loops, but fluid dynamics at work here.
And it's not so much the content, but the viscosity of the fluid and the
size of the conduit that determines the distribution.
- Wade
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