Re: a memetic experiment- an eIe opener

From: Chuck Palson (cpalson@mediaone.net)
Date: Wed May 10 2000 - 08:57:26 BST

  • Next message: Wade T.Smith: "Re: Fwd: Did language drive society or vice versa?"

    Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA20468 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 10 May 2000 13:54:46 +0100
    Message-ID: <39191666.4C26D5B5@mediaone.net>
    Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 08:57:26 +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: a memetic experiment- an eIe opener
    References: <200005100750.IAA00646@faichney.demon.co.uk> <008401bfbaea$a2a1f5a0$03000004@r2z3h3>
    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
    

    Tyger wrote:

    > Propaganda can be seen as very usefull, not only to the propagandist but to
    > the culture and society in which it operates. propaganda (without value
    > associated) I see as an attribute of the emergent property of groups.

    Tyger - could you define what you mean by emergent? I see this word a lot in the
    last few years, and I wonder about it. It is a term in evolutionary studies that
    is specifically anti-evolution because it posits that something can emerge from
    nothing -- which would be negative evidence for evolution. But I have the sense
    that it is being used differently by others.

    > its
    > main purpose (which is different then the intended purpose of the said
    > propagandist) is the cohesion it creates in a given culture. hence its
    > usefulness. memes are the discreet entities of propaganda, but its
    > understanding should be on the meta-system level.
    > thus propaganda works because it is a glue, cohesive force.
    > its use to the recipient: giving or creating the feeling (or illusionary
    > feeling) of being part of a/the group.

    It's not entirely illusory by any means. Leaders must give concrete benefits to
    earn loyalty. And there ARE concrete benefits to acting as part of a group
    against another group, especially if there are limits to available resources.

    >
    >
    > Tyger
    >
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: "Robin Faichney" <robin@faichney.demon.co.uk>
    > To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
    > Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 9:50 AM
    > Subject: Re: a memetic experiment- an eIe opener
    >
    > > Chuck wrote:
    > > >Robin Faichney wrote:
    > > >>
    > > >> Is "propagandistic value" the same as, or different from, "usefulness"?
    > > >>
    > > >The best person to ask that is your local politician. Far be it for me to
    > be so
    > > >pretentious as to know the answer.
    > >
    > > Propaganda is obviously of use to the propagandist, but surely your
    > > model says that a meme won't be picked up unless it is of use to the
    > > recipient -- in which case, what is propaganda?
    > >
    > > --
    > > 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

    ===============================================================
    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 archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed May 10 2000 - 13:55:09 BST