Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id AAA12273 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 9 May 2000 00:54:45 +0100 Message-ID: <010701bfb93f$93f13540$6a286bd4@install> From: "Oliver Kullman" <okullman@ut.ee> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <3915AEB4.9BE0796F@mediaone.net> <00050820415301.00952@faichney> <3916F62D.CD85DDFD@mediaone.net> Subject: Re: Central questions of memetics Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 01:48:49 +0300 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>
> Robin Faichney wrote:
>
> > On Sun, 07 May 2000, Chuck Palson wrote:
> > >Blackmore in Meme Machine writes
> > >that two memes that have infected our brains are the fax and the
windows OS. She
> > >says that the only reason these memes have been widely accepted is that
they
> > >have been mindlessly copied because they are useless. How does she know
they are
> > >useless? Because she finds them useless, period.
>
> >
> > I didn't think Blackmore was quite that simple-minded, so I looked up
fax and
> > Windows in the index. Windows isn't there. Fax has three entries, and
in none
> > of them, as far as I can see, is it called useless. In fact, she has
two fax
> > machines in her house! Can you give page references for these claims?
>
> Unfortuantely I don't have the book - I borrowed it from interlibrary
loan. I is in
> the the second or third chapter. I reread the whole page a few times
because it was
> such an amazing display of - well, what can I say - stupidity. It was on
the left
> side of the open book.
>
Actually she doesn't say these things are useless, she says we don't need
them (it's a little different):
Blackmore The Meme Machine page: 28:
"So why do we have fax machines? Why Coca-Cola cans and wheelybins? Why
Windows 98 and felt-tip pens. I want answers to these specific questions.
"because we want them" is not a sufficient answer. "Because we need them" is
clearly untrue. <..> In later chapters I shall explain how a memetic
approach can help."
Oliver Kullman
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