RE: meaning in memetics

From: Richard Brodie (richard@brodietech.com)
Date: Sat Mar 11 2000 - 15:50:28 GMT

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From: "Richard Brodie" <richard@brodietech.com>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: meaning in memetics
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 07:50:28 -0800
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    Kenneth wrote:

    <<What would be,if there is one,the main characteristic of fitness for a
    meme?
    It could be anything...truth,best,sort out the most effect,is easier to
    learn,is
    more stimulating than others,is better expressed in language,...

    I do understand the criteria by which memes are selected/determined...but
    it seems to me I missed a spot,didn't I ?>>

    I don't think we yet have quantitative data, but if you read my book Virus
    of the Mind you'll remember I speculated as to many of the properties that
    might make a meme fit:

    - making sense (a wrong, simple explanation dominates a complex, more
    accurate one)
    - being associated with animalistic drives such as danger, food, sex
    - having to do with celebrities or ways to climb the status hierarchy

    "Truth" only fits into the first category in most cases. One benefit of
    academia is that it links up the quest for truth with the third category.
    Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com www.memecentral.com/rbrodie.htm

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