From: Wade T. Smith (wade.t.smith@verizon.net)
Date: Tue 08 Jul 2003 - 12:40:15 GMT
On Tuesday, July 8, 2003, at 05:39 AM, Keith wrote:
> Memes are lost from generation to generation if the group is smaller
> than the size where new meme creation does not keep up with the rate
> at which cultural elements are being lost.
And the venue/performer/observer model elucidates this via the limits
of the containment aspects of the venue to elicit performance, as well
as supplying the necessary engine to supply new meme creation. It is
not simply enough to retain things in individual memory- cultural
memory is not possible without venue and performance and observer- and
enough interest needs to be sustained to continue and maintain
performances. Cultural interest is not the same as biological survival
necessity, however, unfortunately.
The example of the Tasmanians is so clearly a working case study of the
performance model that I am again satisfied I have landed on the
correct side of the fence.
Survival, in the human species, is a matter of culture, not biology.
(This is our curse, after all.) And culture is not an island.
- Wade
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