Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id TAA07807 (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 19:13:50 GMT Message-Id: <200002281912.OAA04544@mail2.lig.bellsouth.net> From: "Joe E. Dees" <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 13:16:22 -0600 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: What are memes made of? In-reply-to: <00022818572500.00509@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: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 18:46:30 +0000
Send reply to: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> On Mon, 28 Feb 2000, Joe E. Dees wrote:
> >>
> >> 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.
>
> Up to that last clause, you were talking about communication, not memetics.
> Then you claim that meaning is "memetically multiplied through dissemination".
> Does that mean just that it's communicated, or is it saying something more?
>
Without communication, there can be no memetics, for it is by
means of communication that memes replicate. What is
necessary for communication is necessary for memetics.
Memetic multiplication is effected by means of dissemination,
which is communication to multiple receivers.
>
> >Meaning is also what undergoes mutation and evolution in the individual mind.
>
> Isn't it memes that mutate and evolve? What, precisely, is the relationship
> between meaning and memes in your scheme?
>
Memes are concatenations of meanings which, due to their
usefulness, truth, or other factors, replicate between minds.
Memes are meanings that stick in our heads, and evolve to
become ever stickier.
> --
> 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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