From: Keith Henson (hkhenson@rogers.com)
Date: Sat 15 Apr 2006 - 20:11:22 GMT
At 12:29 PM 4/15/2006 +0100, you wrote:
>Friday, April 14, 2006, 6:31:55 PM, Keith wrote:
>
> > I see it, having made the same argument for years as well. I go a bit
> > further that genes can be in any storage medium as well. The difference in
> > these classes of information is that memes to have real world influence
> > have to be in a brain, genes have to be in cells, and likewise a computer
> > virus has to be in the proper computer/OS. Otherwise all three are all
> > just inactive bits.
>
>I don't see this difference. ANY information will be "inactive bits"
>in some contexts and significant in others.
That's certainly true.
All three fit into a more general category, replicators, but we name the
subclasses depending on where they normally are active--which usually
included having real world effects, like hemophilia, erasing your hard
drive, or this stupid song stuck in your head.
There are all kinds of odd corner cases. For example, when a human mind is
implemented in computer hardware does it get infected with a meme or a
computer virus? They just aren't worth worrying about.
Keith Henson
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