Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id RAA07447 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 28 Feb 2000 17:25:02 GMT Message-Id: <200002281724.MAA03352@mail3.lig.bellsouth.net> From: "Joe E. Dees" <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 11:27:32 -0600 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: What are memes made of? In-reply-to: <00022616280401.00384@faichney> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Robin Faichney <robin@faichney.demon.co.uk>
Organization: Reborn Technology
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: What are memes made of?
Date sent: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 16:24:46 +0000
Send reply to: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> On Fri, 25 Feb 2000, Joe E. Dees wrote:
> >The neat distinction is that the imprinted slight song variations are
> >communicating nothing that the absence of such variation would
> >not communicate, and the birds cannot get together and agree or
> >disagree on either a significance or a change in significance for the
> >variations; the choice of narrow vs. wide ties communicates and
> >means different things (the value of being in vs. out of style) as long
> >as we agree to let it do so.
>
> I still don't understand why memes should have meaning -- the significance of
> significance, if you like, for memetics. I'm really not questioning meaning in
> general terms -- how could we do without it??? But what, precisely, is the
> place of meaning _in memetics_?
>
Meaning is the content of the communication. Form bereft of
content can have no independent existence in a communication
any more than content can have independent of form, just as there
can be neither semantics purified of syntax nor syntactics purifies
of semantics. There must be (1) coding and (2) the encoded for
any transmission/reception to occur; SOMETHING must be
communicated - an empty communication is a contradiction in
terms, so without it, there is nothing to be memetically multiplied
through dissemination. Meaning is also what undergoes mutation
and evolution in the individual mind.
> --
> Robin Faichney
>
>
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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