From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon 21 Oct 2002 - 02:52:44 GMT
>
>Grant:
> > Perhaps we should include as one of the defining characteristics of a
>meme
> > that it is a transaction as expressed in number 2b of the definition
>below:
> >
> > Main Entry: trans·ac·tion
> > Pronunciation: tran-'zak-sh&n, tran(t)-'sak-
> > Function: noun
> > Date: 1647
> > 1 a : something transacted; especially : an exchange or transfer of
> > goods, services, or funds <electronic transactions> b plural : the
> > often published record of the meeting of a society or association
> >
> > 2 a : an act, process, or instance of trans acting b : a
> > communicative action or activity involving two parties or things that
> > reciprocally affect or influence each other
> > - trans·ac·tion·al /-shn&l, -sh&-n&l/ adjective
> >
> > What is replicated through a meme is information. In order for it to be
> > replicated, it must be transmitted. This requires the information to be
> > encoded and broadcast and it also requires someone to receive and decode
>the
> > transmission. Therefore, we can say it is the information that is the
>meme,
> > but only if it is part of a
> > transaction between an originator and one or more other people.
> >
> > This also allows for the problem of the receiver not receiving the
> > information perfectly because the system generates noise as well as
> > information. What a person does with the information received is beside
>the
> > point. Usually, it is used to reproduce behavior based on the
>information
> > received. But I think we can say that it was the information
>transmitted
> > that was the meme, just as it is in the case of genes.
> >
> > For those who want to make comparisons with DNA and genes, DNA is also
> > encoded information that is broadcast through the medium of reporductive
> > action. In sex, the male broadcasts his seed and the female receives it
>and
> > uses it to reproduce a body that resembles both the male and the female.
> > That is also a transaction. Sometimes the process results in a
>reproduction
> > and sometimes it
> > doesn't. (for example, fish fertilizing eggs laying on the bottom of a
> > stream or the ocean) It's the same with memes.
> >
> > So I vote for the word "meme" to refer to the information encoded as
>part
>of
> > a transaction between two or more people (or animals?) which may or may
>not
> > lead to replication.
> >
> > In short, a meme is encoded information. The encoding can be in the
>form
>of
> > words, actions, or artifacts but the meme is what was encoded.
>
>I think this is exactly the level of abstraction I'd like to see. Thanks
>Grant, I feel we are
>pretty much on the same level. Memes as quantities of information, I think
>we have
>a winner here. Their is only one comment I'd like to make. I don't think it
>is necessary
>that the receiver and transmittor are two different people per se. From
>retrospection I
>know there is quite a lot of implicit knowledge in one's mind which can
>become explicit
>through environmental triggers (information received from the outside). I'm
>thinking about
>private euraka moments and 'what alcoholics refer to as moments of
>clarity'.
>In that sense
>you transform implicit knowledge to explicit information and transmit that
>information
>to yourself. I think that the self-plex (set of memes about the self)
>is partly based on the experiences of such private moments of inference.
>
>Phil
>
Yes. That's the grey area of my idea. Things like satori in the buddhist
doctrine or meditation in the Hindu would seem to bring about a transfer of
information that is from oneself to oneself. And then there's also the
question of the creation of memes.
When I write an original story, and the story is in my mind, is it a meme
yet? It is the thing that will be transmitted, but can I count the numerous
transactions between one part of my mind and another as meme stuff? Or the
man who creates a new invention -- does the thing he creates and makes into
an artifact count as a meme before the aritfact is completed? I include in
this category things as diverse as paintings, statues, new kinds of
sneakers, and computer programs.
Any kind of creative activity usually proceeds from an interior dialogue
that results in an artifact. From that artifact the people who view it can
receive messages about the world we live in and knowledge about how the
artifact was created as well as how to make another one like it. That is,
after all, why we have laws protecting copyrights and patents. It is also
why would-be artists go to museums and copy paintings. They are trying to
learn how the master produced the masterpiece.
The ideas involved have value and are copyable. They are the information
that is created by the making of the artifact and transferred by the
transaction between artist and viewer in viewing it. If the information is
the meme and the information exists before it is transmitted, I would have
to admit it is probable the meme exists at that point in time. If the only
transaction that takes place is internal, the prospect of calling it a
"transaction" is doubtful. This does cast some doubt on the idea that a
transaction is a defining characteristic.
Cheers,
Grant
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