Re: What are memes made of?

From: Lloyd Robertson (hawkeye@rongenet.sk.ca)
Date: Sat Mar 11 2000 - 17:28:22 GMT

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Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 11:28:22 -0600
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk, memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Lloyd Robertson <hawkeye@rongenet.sk.ca>
Subject: Re: What are memes made of?
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    At 06:04 PM 22/02/00 -0600, Joe E. Dees wrote:
    >Yes, I maintain that the possibility of both meaning and intention
    >are critical to the ability to choose which would allow for memetic
    >evolution and the establishment of any kind of culture. You have
    >not proven (and cannot) that genetically mandated critical period
    >imprinted instinctual birdsong with slight environmental fluctuations
    >qualifies as a memetic counterexample. The other point at issue is
    >meaning. What do communicated birdsongs MEAN, and does a
    >slight variation in pitch concatenation correspond to a chosen avian
    >meaning change? Answer: the birdsongs are genetically mandated
    >instinctual signals of territorial possession or of a search for a mate
    >or a receptiveness to mating overtures. There is no meaning
    >change happening; the slightly differentially imprinted melodies
    >mean nothing different.

    Should wider ties become fashion again, what is the meaning in that? I
    suppose, if you define memetics narrowly, fashion in clothing has little to
    do with memetics. But it is clearly part of culture and the wearers of
    wider ties are communicating something to others who observe them. I still
    fail to see a neat distinction between that and birdsong for those species
    whose songs are variant and dependant on imitation.

    Lloyd

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