From: Keith Henson (hkhenson@rogers.com)
Date: Wed 18 Jun 2003 - 22:59:41 GMT
http://www.google.ca/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=3529ABCB.4BE8A806%40syntac.net.NOSPAM
[I found this post by Dave Gross (dave@moorlock.NOSPAM.eorbit.net) in the
archives of alt.memetics. Enjoy! Keith]
A letter on the definition of memetics
Luther Blissett
This is an argument countering David Lynch's newly proposed definition of
the word meme and the boundaries of the science of memetics. It is not
only the finest argument I have ever made, but it is the only one
approaching it in quality which I or anyone else has ever composed.
Lynch's position, as it might be put by two dancing bottles of vinegar
named Vacco and Sanzetti:
"It's not the tune of a song that is the meme, but the memory
of and ability to re-sing the tune. And it is those mental
structures that ought to be studied by people studying memes."
This leaves out a lot of what many people are working with in the
discipline, and it seems to do so unnecessarily. What Lynch sees as
'artifacts' that lie outside of the main interest of the discipline, I see
as the only data points we have within the discipline. And what Lynch sees
as "consistent with Dawkins" and therefore worth preserving in its
restricted form, I see as a radical surgery on a much more open-ended
initial concept.
The way I imagine it, in the philosophical branch of memetics, we'll more
closely define what can be known about the structure of a meme when it is
instantiated in a human mind and how to model the behavior of model-memes;
in the scientific branch, we'll analyze actual memes in the only phase of
their lifecycles in which they leave a physical trace -- when they cause
words or behaviors which are capable of being copied.
As is the case in most sciences, the theorists suggest the lines of inquiry
with the power of logic and a broad knowledge of the field (and sometimes
test their theories by careful experiment), the scientists collect data and
make noise when something about reality contradicts the current theories
(and sometimes propose new theories). The people who get things named
after them after they die do plenty of both.
Following Lynch's more theoretical line of inquiry seems to me to lead
first and foremost into a quagmire of epistemology and theoretical
linguistics; I myself have tended more toward the scientific side. I'd
hate to think I was no longer pursuing memetics when all this time I've
been catching memes in my net and pinning them in my boxes.
I attack Lynch's proposed definition, and I feel compelled to go further
and to question the motives of Dr. Lynch for presenting it. This is
looking more and more like the act of provocateur from the Disumbrationist
League.
For those of you who haven't heard of the DL, there's a FAQ running around
on-line someplace. In short, they're to rational discourse what the
Unabomber is to mail-order novelty companies. They oppose on principle the
premises of rational discussion (a la current postmodern vogue) and take it
one thoroughly illogical step further and resist rational discussion with
tactics of disruption and cooption.
They paraphrase Cyprot Johann Most for their rallying cry of sorts:
"Topple the tulip with the weight of its football."
Not inspiring to you or me, perhaps, but there are far more
disumbrationists (especially on line) than there are memeticists (even if
you don't accept Dr. Lynch's more restrictive definition).
The gist of the slogan, as you might gather, is that rational discussion is
to be opposed by pointing out and magnifying its inherent absurdities. This
is done through such predictable but often successful stunts of provoking
cascades of categorization and definition within a previously successful
and disciplined enclave of thinking.
But in fact, according to disumbrationist theory rational argument is its
own worst enemy, and the more rational the worse the enemy, so the favored
tactic is to construct arguments in the most persuasive of the prevailing
forms for whatever group in which the provocateur operates. The idea is to
appeal to the very part of the person who believes in these accepted (and
quite reasonable and realistic) forms by presenting the perfect key for
that lock.
They will go to great lengths. As an illustration, Alan Sokal was a
journeyman Disumbrationist when he published "Transgressing the Boundaries:
Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" in Social Text
#46/47. He was ejected from the League for later admitting in print that
his paper was a hoax -- to this day his name is brought up when shameful
examples are needed to humble new League initiates.
If inexperienced and cocky Disumbrationists are pulling stunts like this,
what are the real pros capable of?
Dr. Lynch, perhaps /you/ could enlighten us on this matter?
===============================================================
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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