Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id EAA05085 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 10 Apr 2002 04:06:41 +0100 From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Thoughts and Perceptions Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 22:37:19 -0400 Message-ID: <NEBBKOADILIOKGDJLPMAOEBFCOAA.debivort@umd5.umd.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) In-Reply-To: <JJEIIFOCALCJKOFDFAHBIELDEKAA.richard@brodietech.com> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Importance: Normal Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Nice posting, Richard. Lots of food for thought...
Lawrence
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
> Of Richard Brodie
> Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 9:40 PM
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Thoughts and Perceptions
>
>
> Scott wrote:
>
> <<Is visual observation pure seeing? Is there any processing before
> something
> makes it to the status of an observation as filtered through
> limited sensory
> channels each replete with tuning biases and possibly processed along
> further steps up the hierarchy towards conceptualization and its
> categorical
> filters?>>
>
> >From _Virus of the Mind_:
>
> ----------------------
> The universe is full of stuff. However, anything we say about
> that stuff is
> purely a concept—a set of memes—invented by human beings. All concepts are
> composed of memes. For instance, the United States are only States because
> we have invented 50 distinctions—memes—carving out that territory. Alabama
> isn’t a reality, it’s just there because we say so, because we are
> programmed with a meme for Alabama. If we didn’t have an Alabama
> meme, that
> land would just be more dirt.
> Likewise, the earth is simply a distinction—a meme—we invented because it
> was convenient to put edges around the place we live in order to
> distinguish
> it from the rest of the universe. To the universe, it’s all just
> stuff. You
> may say, “But there really are edges! There’s where the dirt ends and the
> atmosphere begins, or where the atmosphere gives way to outer space!”
> Really? Dirt, atmosphere, outer space—they’re all memes. If you think dirt
> is really dirt, not a meme we invented for our convenience, then
> all you’ll
> ever have is dirt. If you see it’s a meme, and not the Truth, you open up
> the possibility of other memes to talk about the same thing: elements,
> crystals, subatomic particles. Remember, viewed through an electron
> microscope, it’s all mostly empty space!
>
> How about this one: you are simply a distinction—a meme—we
> invented because
> it was convenient to talk about the parts of the universe that feel pain
> when hit with a hammer. To the universe, there’s no you, or human
> beings, or
> giraffes, or solar systems, or galaxies. All those are human-invented
> distinctions. They are all memes.
>
> Now one more point: everything I just said, about the distinction between
> objective reality and concepts, is a concept. It’s a meme. To the
> universe,
> there’s no such thing as a concept. I just drew this distinction
> because it
> was convenient to use when we’re talking about memetics.
> Distinctions are one kind of meme. They are ways of carving up
> the world by
> categorizing or labeling things.
>
> When you create a distinction, you gain access to some things and lose
> access to others. It’s useful to be conscious of what
> distinction-memes you’
> re programmed with, and to know that all the distinctions you draw are
> human-invented and not reality.
>
> Distinctions, as I just mentioned, are one kind of meme that
> contributes to
> your programming. Someone educated (programmed) in the memes of
> French will
> behave differently in France from someone who has no knowledge of the
> language—his mind will recognize meaning where others will hear
> only noise.
> Someone programmed with the distinction Coca-Cola will be more
> likely to buy
> Coke than the store brand of cola. Her mind will recognize the
> familiar red
> can with the white swish; the store brand will not register
> because she has
> no distinction-meme for it.
> The Coca-Cola company knows this, by the way, which is why their logo has
> grown bigger and bigger over the years until today the entire
> front panel of
> a seven-foot-tall Coke machine bears the distinctive red-and-white
> trademark.
>
> Advertisers, politicians, and anyone else who wants your money or support
> are very interested in programming you with certain distinctions over
> others, and understanding the distinctions you see the world
> through so they
> can take advantage of them. What are you more likely to buy for
> breakfast: a
> slice of chocolate cake or a “chocolate-chip muffin”? Calling a
> round piece
> of high-fat chocolate cake a “muffin” takes advantage of the distinctions
> you have around breakfast food and increases sales. My local cafe has just
> come out with scone-shaped brownies! Of course, no one would eat brownies
> for breakfast, but scones—!
>
> -----------------------
>
> You may also be interested in a communication model posted at
> http://www.memecentral.com/L3Communication.htm
>
> Richard Brodie
> www.memecentral.com
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
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===============================================================
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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