Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id AAA14484 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 26 Jun 2000 00:11:07 +0100 Subject: RE: Cons and Facades Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 19:08:32 -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: <20000625230832.AAA17367@camailp.harvard.edu@[205.240.180.121]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Aaron Lynch made this comment not too long ago --
>The idea of
>"engineered lies" may thus be seen as having a parasitic relationship to
>honest science.
This, and all of your post, do explain a good portion of my reluctance to
accept what is being done in the memetic arena. As always, I truly enjoy
your encircling inquiries and comments.
>Do you think there is a subcurrent in memetics that regards "memetic
>engineering" as including, among other things, a "new technology" of lying?
Yes, and I think anyone who doesn't, in their own subcurrent, regard
'memetic engineering' as a new technology of lying is only fooling
themselves.
As to how to conduct an experiment to control and analyze the
distribution of a 'meme' without first instigating a new meme, well, I'm
at a loss. The problem, as I see it, with 'engineering' a 'new' meme for
the purposes of experiment is that it is a lie to say one can create a
new meme, and since total context is, as in all evolution, a necessary
part of the experiment, narrowing the environment to construct a meme
creates a false culture.
I would rather see memetic analysis of narrow cultures, than attempts to
'engineer' memetic elements even for experimental purposes.
As for using memetics to further and bolster behavior-altering techniques
such as NLP, well, that, to me, is just specious. Although, within the
narrow confines of the NLP culture, it may be an analytical technique to
explain why its proponents say it 'works', in much the same way
astrologers say astrology 'works'. I see only parallels of activity and
belief between the two.
- Wade
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