Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA07719 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 18 May 2000 12:53:18 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D31CEB1AD@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Central questions of memetics Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 12:51:18 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Thanks for this Robin,
Good to hear from someone so close by!
I think you're right about the 'usefulness' thing. It reminds me of a body
of media effects research, known as the 'uses and gratifications' approach,
which looked at media effects from the point of view of the reasons people
have for useing the media. The typologies of uses that researchers like
Blumler & Katz (1974 I think) were so reductive to be of little real use in
the end, although the basic point about audience's conscious use of the
media was an important one, in terms of counterig ideas of use as purely
passive receivers of media content.
Just to spread some useless memes around the list- it's nice and sunny in
Stirling as I write!
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Robin Faichney
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 8:07 pm
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: RE: Central questions of memetics
>
> On Tue, 16 May 2000, Vincent Campbell wrote:
> >Excellent example of a purely cultural function of an object, and this
> then
> >begs the questions I'm interested in - where did cultures come from, why
> do
> >we have them and other animals don't, and how do cultures
> >persist/develop/change?
>
> Despite the which-came-first question, in this case with regard to memes
> and
> expanded brains, I'm convinced that culture is inevitable where
> sociability
> meets sufficient intelligence. To put this another way, memes require (a)
> means of transmission between individuals, and specifically the tendency
> for
> them to copy each other's behaviour, and (b) "spare" information
> processing
> capacity, facilitating behaviour that's not too strictly tied to immediate
> survival. Because despite Chuck's insistence on usefulness, I think it's
> very clear that the overwhelming mass of culture is anything but that --
> tied
> to immediate survival, I mean. Entertainment value seems much more
> significant than actual practical usefulness, and if you widen "useful" to
> include "entertaining", then I think it ("useful") loses its usefulness
> (and
> it's not terribly entertaining either). You might even take the view that
> culture is just what we do whenever we're not tied to boring old
> practicality. Though of course I know it's not really that simple! :-)
>
> (On the net, it's not supposed to matter where you are, but nevertheless I
> feel I have to say to Vincent: Greetings from (not so) sunny Dunblane!)
>
> --
> Robin Faichney
> (Graduate and former staff member, Stirling University)
>
> ==============================================================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
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