Re: Standard definition

From: Wade T.Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Sun 03 Nov 2002 - 07:37:08 GMT

  • Next message: Wade T.Smith: "Re: There is never pure perception or pure action"

    On Friday, November 1, 2002, at 07:03 , derek gatherer wrote:

    > c) showing how one can make deductions concerning
    > social contagion using purely observable data aligned
    > to computational models, so internalist theoretical
    > foundations are unnecessary:
    > http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/5/4/5.html

    Interesting paper, interesting conclusion. Of course, I agree with what you say above, and your reason for saying it, as I also feel that internalist theoretical foundations are unnecessary. Social contagion is itself a worthy phrase, one I should use more often in my own bramble-thrashing.

    The memetic isolation piece was also very interesting.

    But, if I may, could I ask you, and all, to ponder how you would set up a clinical situation to gather data about some memetic theory, either internalist or externalist? So far, the data used in memetic papers has come from other sources. Assuming funds, and using available computers and other tools, does anyone have an experimental setup to gather some data towards answering any of the memetic riddles?

    Is there any possible experiment to show Joe's meme-ory, or to prove the presence of a meme in the mind? What conditions would be needed to gather data about behavioral change due to a single, controlled, memetic stimulus? Is there an experiment even possible? Internalist emes have been used, as you say, mostly as post-hoc explanations of cause without any empirical mechanism demonstrated.

    It's time to show some protocols, I think.

    Unfortunately, the only experimental conditions I can imagine to set up would be hideously unethical, if not downright cruel.

    - 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 archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun 03 Nov 2002 - 07:41:00 GMT