Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA15167 (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 15:37:04 +0100 From: "Richard Brodie" <richard@brodietech.com> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Central questions of memetics Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 07:33:28 -0700 Message-ID: <NBBBIIDKHCMGAIPMFFPJMEJOEMAA.richard@brodietech.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <39171184.A51A2524@mediaone.net> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Chuck wrote:
<<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?>>
Successful news producers know what sells to their audience. It's easy to
recognize a "nightly news" story versus an "NPR" story. No evil intention is
necessary, only the recognition that certain news items are more interesting
to the audience than others, and the audiences are drown to the stations
that provide those type of stories. "Usefulness" is not a particular factor.
Sensationalism, for the masses, tends to be, as are stories about
celebrities, disasters, scandals, and so on... very primal interests.
<<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?>>
Memes and viruses are not the same thing. Mind viruses are larger
superorganisms. Adherents to religions tend to share some memes, which are
components of these superorganisms, but the meme is not the virus.
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
http://www.memecentral.com/rbrodie.htm
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