Re: electric meme bombs

From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Wed 16 Oct 2002 - 18:29:11 GMT

  • Next message: Wade Smith: "Re: electric meme bombs"

    >
    > On Wednesday, October 16, 2002, at 01:05 , joedees@bellsouth.net
    > wrote:
    >
    > > to be modified, it has to exist
    >
    > Yes, and the reason for that is, it has to be performed and observed.
    >
    No, it can, and often is, mentally modified, with elaborations drawn from memory and present perception. Otherwise, there would be no mutation, and without mutation, there is no evolution. But memes evolve. Q.E.D.
    >
    > Existence of a meme in the brain is totally unproved, (probably
    > unprovable), and completely unnecessary, except as preparation, since
    > the behavior is what is _observed_ by the audience.
    >
    Persent PET scan indications of specific mental correlates to specific behaviors are strong, and getting stronger every day.
    >
    > (To continue a thought, you _do not_ know the song you are _about_ to
    > sing. You might have a very, very, good, idea what might happen, but,
    > you don't really _know_. If you can show, anywhere, for almost
    > anything, that full disclosure of the future is a fact, let me know.
    > Even a practiced opera singer, with years and years of training and
    > professional experience, cannot _know_ with completeness the
    > performance they are about to give.)
    >
    I just sang:

    "London Bridges Falling Down, Falling Down, Falling Down. London Bridges Falling Down My Fair Lady."

    I mentally rehearsed the tune and the words in my head five minutes before, and behaviorally executed the song just as I imagined doing.

    > There is no meme, as you yourself have said, without a meaning-capable
    > audience.
    >
    A person who watches his/her favority TV show at home alone is replicating the I-like-to-watch-my-tv-show meme, whether or not there is someone else in the room to witness the performance. A replication behavior does not have to be observed to exist, just as a tree falling in the forest still makes a sound. And neither does a mental encoding of the behavior have to be observed to exist, even though we can watch particular circuits light up on PET scans when certain behaviors, but not others, are engaged in.
    >
    > And, since there is no meme without an audience, there is no meme
    > without behavior.
    >
    > And the reason for that is, the meme _is_ the behavior.
    >
    The manifestation of the meme is the behavior; the latent meme is contained in meme-ory.
    >
    > - Wade
    >
    >
    > ===============================================================
    > 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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