Re: Aunger speaks

From: Scott Chase (ecphoric@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu 14 Nov 2002 - 23:46:21 GMT

  • Next message: Scott Chase: "RE: Aunger speaks"

    >From: "Grant Callaghan" <grantc4@hotmail.com>
    >Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    >To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    >Subject: Re: Aunger speaks
    >Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 07:25:05 -0800
    >
    >>
    >>
    >>On Thursday, November 14, 2002, at 09:05 , Vincent Campbell wrote:
    >>
    >>>Basically Levinson's argument is one of "soft" technological determinism,
    >>>whereby information and communication technologies had major societal
    >>>consequences, but not necessarily ones intended or foreseen by the
    >>>inventors
    >>>of the technology
    >>
    >>This is also the argument of the performance-only model, as the intent of
    >>the performer (the technology of the inventor) is not necessarily
    >>forwarded by the actual performance (technology). There is no guarantee,
    >>regardless of rehearsal or skill, that any performance is ordained.
    >>
    >>>the
    >>>telephone was intended by Bell to be a device to help the hard of hearing
    >>
    >>It would be interesting to find a list of such inventions moved askew from
    >>original intent. It is for this reason that IMHO deriving _intent_ (and
    >>thus meaning) is futile, at core. The meaning mutates in performance,
    >>because of performance.
    >>
    >>- Wade
    >>
    >I think intent is only important in the beginning to get the meme
    >transmitted. As a tool, a meme can be used for many things and the
    >original intent doesn't have much to do with what later uses will be made
    >of the tool. The idea that all you are transmitting with a meme is the
    >intent of the inventor seems too limiting. The more uses we can find for a
    >tool the faster it will spread.
    >
    >Mickey Mouse was originally an intertainment device to amuse children. Now
    >it's a device to sell clothing, comic books, club membership, toys, etc.,
    >the list goes on. Mickey Mouse is still the original meme of Walt Disney
    >but I doubt that he envisioned DisneyLand when he invented it. He was just
    >trying to come up with a cute cartoon that he could sell to the public. He
    >had no idea what the public would do with his invention.
    >
    >
    Some of my friends used to joke that one of our group was a "mouse ear" mechanic, meaning IIRC that he wasn't quite a pro. I recall a joke about his improvizing a wrench by taping two spoons together. Another mechanical bit of jargon I remember was someone referring to the metric sockets and wrenches as "mickey mouse", I think because they were in millimeter (mm) increments. For the Brits on the list, believe it or not, but we here in the States had sockets and wrenches in fraction of an inch increments. I think some here (especially "shade tree" mechanics with American built cars) felt that metrics was a commie plot.

    Disney World is practically in my backyard. Growing up going to Disney World every time relatives visited spoiled me and after a while I couldn't appreciate that theme park anymore because I was so used to it and could practically draw a map of the place on a napkin. It's hard to segue from mouse ears to rollercoasters, but my last visits to Disney World revolved around how many times I could ride "Space Mountain" and "Thunder Mountain Railroad". The rest of the park was just background scenery.

    Disney has another park called EPCOT, which was cool if you like to eat food I suppose. Disney World's rollercoasters pale in comparison to those of another theme park called Busch Gardens, which is in Joe's backyard. I rode the "Montu" just about a month ago, a day after the Rush concert at the Ice Palace in Tampa. That coaster is an artifactual beast, with some awesome engineering ideas behind it, which strongly influenced the behavior of many park attendees that day, because the "Montu" was the only rollercoaster at the pak were people were seeming to concentrate heavily. I waited in line longer for that ride than the others (ie- Kumba, Gwazi, Scorpion, and Python). The Kumba was cool too, but the lines weren't as bad and I was able to ride in the front row without much waiting time. BTW, getting back to Disney, how many stars were part of the "Mickey Mouse Club" in its different time periods?

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