Re: Bigfoot as Idea & Meme

From: Van oost Kenneth (kennethvanoost@belgacom.net)
Date: Thu 15 May 2003 - 13:34:10 GMT

  • Next message: Wade T. Smith: "Re: transmission"

    ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dace" <edace@earthlink.net> Kenneth,
    > > My view what is a meme goes in the direction of what I have
    > > written to Wade, memes do not convey implicit info, but attempts
    > > to sway people in doing/ performing, pranking something for that
    > > matter.
    > > In Wades words, culture demands intention and the performer and
    > > the performance are affected by the commands of culture_ prank-
    > > sters and believers " obey " the attempts of culture to continue
    > > performances of any / a certain form.
    > > What the prankster or the believer does or does not is part of
    > > the venue of culture and are both memes.
    Dace,
    > Again, where's the volition? For the prankster, he is consciously in
    > control. For the believer, the mutant idea (meme) has turned him into a
    > puppet. But even for the believer, agency has been (unconsciously) handed
    > over to the meme. A sound model of memetics must begin with human agency
    > and demonstrate how this agency is sacrificed to the meme.

    Dace,

    From the Meme- meme- eye point of view there is no agency, no free will, all is done in/ under and by control of the memes/ memeset. The fact of having a free will, having agency or thinking you have could be just yet another way by which memes travel/ procreate and propagate. Being a prankster or a believer for that matter could be just the way by which memes/ memesets maximize their chances of passage to a next victim. In being a prankster or in being a believer you show certain attitudes, traits, behaviors and habits, " being a prankster could be my way of getting rid of the memes manipulating my body " to maximize its own chances for survival_ for example, setting up crop- circles in ones cornfield.

    If you are manipulated by those memes and you treat it, you' re avoiding damage, but if it is a way of procreation and you treat it, not only you damage certain memes, but you damage the host also. Prankster or not, believer or not, in both cases mutant memes could easily turn any host into a puppet, moreover, you can say you are never in control.

    Regards,

    Kenneth

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