RE: Why Europe is so Contrary

From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri 22 Nov 2002 - 15:16:15 GMT

  • Next message: Scott Chase: "RE: Why Europe is so Contrary"

    >
    >
    >Snip....................Joe:
    > >> ...the US has to be blamed for EVERYthing. I don't think you have
    >carefully
    > >> considered the memetic nature of the threat to postmodern civilization
    > >> by a violently cannibalistic medieval memeset.>
    > >>Snip.............
    >
    >Maybe that is what we have got Joe, a 'postmodern civilisation'; everyone
    >defines their own; everyone doubts the Grand-narratives. But, at the same
    >time, everyone is civilised too. To think that this blissful state of
    >affairs could be jeopardised by 'a violently cannibalistic medieval
    >memeset', it's tragic. Now is that a medieval memeset that violently
    >devours other medieval memesets, or just other memesets in general?
    >And Joe, have you considered the effect, on existing civilisations, of
    >allowing a new violently cannibalistic memeset to have political and
    >economic dictatorship of the planet?
    >Jeremy
    >

    All memesets are canibalistic in the sense that the culture we pick up and use drives out old memes which go unused. If we don't use a meme, we lose it. There are limits, based on time and space, that restrict the number of memes we can use from day to day. The way we spend our time also determines which memes get used and which don't. We tend to think more about what we spend our time doing than things we don't. So I'm not using the term canibalistic in the sense that one meme consumes another but in the sense that the memes we use cause the memes we don't use to die of neglect.

    Grant

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