Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA22545 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 10 Jun 2000 20:51:52 +0100 Subject: Re: Imitation or transmission? Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 15:49:32 -0400 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "Memetics Discussion List" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20000610194926.AAA21571@camailp.harvard.edu@[205.240.180.83]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Lawrence H. de Bivort made this comment not too long ago --
>memetic engineering can
>give rise to powerful changes, and it is not clear that this kind of power
>is necessarily beneficial.
I suppose, if one considers racism, and totalitarianism, and murder, and
magazine publishing, and playwrighting as examples of 'memetic
engineering', the field is open to abuse, but, really, I have no idea
what is being talked about when _anyone_ says 'memetic engineering', I
really don't, so I think, regardless of your alleged moral objections,
that it is time to present us with a unique example, obviously untinted
by other disciplines, of just such an engineered meme, and, its
deleterious (or beneficial) outcome among an experimental group.
Because calling, as Aaron has mentioned, "paraphrasings of existing
marketing science", memetic engineering, is, just as he also said, the
facade of a con.
- Wade
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