From: Van oost Kenneth (kennethvanoost@belgacom.net)
Date: Thu 15 May 2003 - 14:34:20 GMT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Brodie" <richard@brodietech.com>
> Bill Benzon wrote:
The"dog" idea-in-the-head meme IS NOT being transmitted through the phone
line.
> All that's transmitted is a sonic wave-form. If meaning were transmitted
> then the fact that Jill doesn't speak English shouldn't make any
difference.
> She'd know what Jack was talking about as soon as she heard the sound.>>
Richard,
> For that matter, a sonic waveform isn't being transmitted either. It
depends
> upon the presence of a loudspeaker at the other end. And yet I have a
> picture of a dog in my head right now without a single telephone or
waveform
> involved! What a paradox!
Hi all,
Not a paradox, but meaning/ semantics at work...!
A meme has passed from Williams his brain writing his post down
to Richard his brain reading the stuff.
The meme is the abstraction of the word ' dog ', all of it expectations,
statements, even thoughts shared by us, all the memebers/ users of
the language contaning the word ' dog '.
In the example the meme wasn 't transmitted because there was no
abstraction, no ' picture ' like Richard call it for Jill to see.
If Jack would have indeed barked, no word had to be spoken, Jill
would have understand.
It is my opinion, that we must endure the meme as more as an
abstraction, a ' spacial ' fact that involves exchanging information.
The meme is a fact of evolution and therefor biased in the creative
endeavor of people and perceived by the same.
What we perceive now as memes, artifacts and culture is nothing
else meme- evolution its due.
Memes, IMO do more than simply transmit information.
Due to their evolution and thus due to our genetic heritage and
evolution a mechanism has been formed that is able to indeed
transmit info, whatever that is, but that involves more than an
exchange of information.
Hearing a dog barking sets off a whole set of - plexes, thoughts,
presumptions, statements shared by all memebers/ users of
the language/ culture.
Hearing a dog barking sets off the informative abstraction that
makes IMO the MEME, every time and in every place different,
due to different circumstances and situations,...quantum- like.
Regards,
Kenneth
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