Re: drug addiction as meme

From: M Lissack (lissacktravel@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun 25 Jan 2004 - 16:30:17 GMT

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    Ray

    if you view the addiction as a meme from the meme as catalytic indexical perspective you find the following:

    incarceration plans focus on trying to limit the carrying capacity of the indexical by loading up the indexical with "bad things" (jail time, los of freedom, need to avoid the police, etc.)

    clearly the indexical has a high carrying capacity and indexical breakdown is a step function so until you overload it with bad things the effect is minimal

    the alternative to focus on the meme as a catalyst:

    what is it about the addiction that is worth catalyzing and how do the many factors which are symbolized by the meme work as catalysts

    if you can find a way to restrict the catalytic powers or find a stronger reaction which is similarly catalyzed you can interfere with the reaction and work toward interfering in the addiction process
    --- Ray Recchia <rrecchia@frontiernet.net> wrote:
    > I'm off for a week to attend a judicial conference
    > on setting up special
    > drug courts that focus on treatment instead of
    > incarceration.
    >
    > My question is for the lot of you is: if drug
    > addiction is a meme, are
    > there any insights that a memetic perspective can
    > suggest on how to limit
    > it's spread? A related question: how is this
    > complicated by the
    > involuntary nature of addiction itself?
    >
    > Raymond O. Recchia, Esq.
    >
    >
    >
    ===============================================================
    > 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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    =============================================================== 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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