From: Bill Spight (bspight@pacbell.net)
Date: Fri 25 Oct 2002 - 17:49:32 GMT
All:
Dawkins begins his definition of "meme" in "The Extended Phenotype"
with, "A unit of cultural inheritance". In recent discussions I have
assumed that that was a necessary part of any definition of "meme".
(That seems not to be the case for everyone, however. ;-))
I propose that "A unit of cultural inheritance" is also sufficient to
define a meme, and thus, is an acceptable standard definition.
We may argue about exactly what and what kind of thing such a unit is,
but I think that it is a good idea to separate the ontology debate from
the question of definition. We may agree upon a definition of "unicorn"
without agreeing about the ontology of unicorns.
BTW, Dawkins defines "gene" simply as "a unit of heredity". Short,
sweet, and sufficient. :-) No need to go into DNA, information, mutation
rate, or anything else. KISS (Keep it simple, sister).
Bill
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