From: Richard Brodie (richard@brodietech.com)
Date: Mon 16 Jun 2003 - 13:49:16 GMT
Sounds like you're talking about a special class of meme, the kind that
stands on its own and catches on rapidly because it has "the right stuff."
Slogans and sound bites ("I did not have sex with that woman") fall into
this camp, but it's a very small subset of memes.
Richard Brodie
www.memecentral.com
-----Original Message-----
From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
Of Lawrence DeBivort
Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2003 7:25 PM
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: RE: Meme definition (was: birthdays)
You would categorize learning and reaction as a matter of memetic
transmission? Doesn't this broaden the definition of meme past the point of
utility? I think there is something significant that distinguishes learning
and reaction from memetic transmissions. In our usage, a meme is an idea or
understanding of the world that is transmitted through language (incl.
symbols and demonstration) and takes hold in the recipient's cognition due
to special properties that are embedded in the language. It is these
special properties that distinguish memes from non-memetic ideas, and that
accounts for the dissemination and self-defense properties of the meme.
Thus, one can learn without the presence of memes, or react to situations.
For example, one can generate a 'new thought' from scratch, and (I think,
though I can readily imagine how one might disagree on this) one can have a
non-cognitive reaction to things, that is, reactions (such as phobias) that
short-circuit cognitive operations.
L
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
> Of Richard Brodie
> Sent: Sun, June 15, 2003 10:11 PM
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: RE: Meme definition (was: birthdays)
>
>
> Richard said:
> > How about a child whose mother is a strict disciplinarian? The
> > child blames
> > the strictness for her woes and makes a decision to be lenient
> > with her own
> > child, who comes to the opposite conclusion and once again adopts the
> > strictness meme. Where is that generation-skipping meme encoded?
>
> Lawry wrote:
>
> <<I would treat this as more a matter of simple learning and reaction,
> rather
> than a meme at work. The grandchild might as easily adopt yet a third
> pattern of behavior; there is no intrinsic reason for the grandchild to
> adopt the grandmother's pattern (other than that the model you offer has
> only two behavioral choices). What do you think?>>
>
> There are an infinity of possibilities for meme transmission. Simple
> learning and reaction is one.
>
> Richard Brodie
> www.memecentral.com
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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