Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id BAA12340 (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 01:09:25 +0100 Message-ID: <39171184.A51A2524@mediaone.net> Date: Mon, 08 May 2000 20:12:05 +0100 From: Chuck Palson <cpalson@mediaone.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Central questions of memetics References: <NBBBIIDKHCMGAIPMFFPJIEHOEMAA.richard@brodietech.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
As I said, I looked at your site and found the following:
"The breakthrough in memetics is in extending Darwinian evolution
to culture. There are several exciting conclusions from doing that,
one of which is the ability to predict that ideas will spread not
because they are "good ideas", but because they contain "good
memes" such as danger, food and sex that push our evolutionary
buttons and force us to pay attention to them."
I presume that is what you were pointing me to.
I don't see how this answers my concern. First, what does it mean to say "not
because they are 'good ideas'?" but that nevertheless "push our evolutionary
buttons and force us to pay attention to them." Do you mean those in the media
who manufacture stories on the nightly news that either simply exaggerate
certain dangers or even manufacture them? If so, then I can see how that might
apply. In the US these tendencies to either exaggerate or lie increase
exponentially around sweeps time. Lots of times people get sucked into believing
the lies for their entire lives; and lots of times the scares simply fade
because people cease to believe them. Exactly why one or the other happens is an
interesting question that has some answers. But I fail to see how treating memes
as having an independent life of their own furthers our understanding of them.
You seem to be saying that there is a trick going on here. There is, of course.
But the trick is calculated and produced by the media according to certain very
well known formulas. And people often believe them for some interesting reasons.
But I still cannot see how treating memes as independent viruses is useful. It
just seems to me that culture is a part of Darwinian evolution, not something
that evolves off by it's own. What am I missing?
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