RE: Central questions of memetics

From: Richard Brodie (richard@brodietech.com)
Date: Tue May 23 2000 - 03:02:00 BST

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From: "Richard Brodie" <richard@brodietech.com>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: Central questions of memetics
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 19:02:00 -0700
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    Chuck wrote:

    <<Before I attempt to answer the latest urgent question, I would like to
    point out
    that countless memes have now been transported back and forth for a long
    time on
    the simple memic transport we have chosen to call "Central questions of
    memetics".>>

    And why was that even necessary? By your view useful ideas should simply pop
    into our heads without the need for transmission.

    [RB]
    > Is "having a use" the same thing, in your model, as "being useful"? I can
    > think of uses for the dead batteries my digital camera makes, but I
    wouldn't
    > call them "useful."

    <<Absolutely not? If you made a collage with these batteries combined with
    other
    flotsam and jetsam, and you sold them?

    Actually, if it's possible, all kidding aside, are you serious? Insofar as
    both
    terms refer to a brain that has designated a use for something, they are
    both
    useful.>>

    So if everything is useful, you're not really saying anything when you
    declare that people choose memes because they are useful, are you?

    Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
    http://www.memecentral.com/rbrodie.htm

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