Re: electric meme bombs

From: Philip Jonkers (ephilution@attbi.com)
Date: Wed 23 Oct 2002 - 07:09:14 GMT

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    Phil:
    > this would imply that they have a will

    Bruce: Absolutely not, no more than a virus has a will. I consider the typical meme to have 3 main distinguishoing elements: content (a unit of information); action (unconscious influence on the mind of the host); output (observable behaviour which includes replication). I think it is confusing to think of anything living in terms of intentionality, even our own free will represents such a small part of our existence as to be almost irrelevant in terms of our evolution. I suppose the main benefit of identifying someting called a meme is to give us a framework within which we can understand some of the more illogical aspects of human behaviour.

    Phil: Later on I realised that my remark was a little out of context. I stand corrected, I misadvertently took "use" for "want".

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