Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA16366 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 19 May 2000 20:21:54 +0100 From: Robin Faichney <robin@faichney.demon.co.uk> Organization: Reborn Technology To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Useless memes Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 19:40:34 +0100 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.21] Content-Type: text/plain References: <000c01bfc124$e3e6cb40$37286bd4@install> Message-Id: <00051919514801.00613@faichney> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On Fri, 19 May 2000, Oliver Kullman wrote:
>>
>> In what sense do you think astrology is useful?
<snip>
>Probably has about the same mechanism as jokes or anecdotes. No use in the
>pragmatist sence, but still a way for people in society to feel somehow as
>part of a group. Does anyone have any other ideas of comedy's usefullness
>.... or art's.
I think it's fairly uncontroversial that laughter is beneficial, mentally
and physiologically. I've certainly come across studies that said such
things several times, though I can't recall any details now. I think this
social cohesion thing is overplayed. Sure it's important, but it's not
right to use it as a catchall whenever there's no obvious "pragmatist"
benefit. Art is really interesting -- in more ways than one! And
appreciation of it is certainly *not* only about social cohesion. That
seems like a typical "techy" assumption. Good art puts your head in a
place it's never been before, a subtly altered state -- unlike the grossly
altered states you get with some drugs. That, in turn, lets you see
familiar things in unfamiliar ways, and *any* new angle, literal or
metaphorical, is likely to increase your understanding. Of course,
increased understanding or not, lots of people just really like any new
experience. ;-)
>I haven't followed this discussion very closely, so I don't
>really know what usefullness denotes here, so i may be way off. Probably
>these phenomena have some use as socializers and alienators of other
>cultures that have other kinds of jokes and perhaps some other mantism.
There's an awful lot more to it than that!
-- 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
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