Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA20165 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 31 Jan 2001 12:43:12 GMT Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745C1F@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Labels for memes Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 12:42:09 -0000 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
<The information has to exist, but not the meme. The meme stays
right in the
> head of the ad exec for Budweiser. He pays someone to do a TV commercial,
> it
> gets broadcast, information gets transmitted, and suddenly a million new
> copies of the "Wazzuuuuup?" meme get created in new minds.>
>
Sorry to butt in, but this is an interesting discussion. I like the
phrase here 'suddenly a million new copies...'. The million dollar
question, though is 'how?' One problem with such examples is that they
ignore the many models of the mass communication process. The information
transmission one, a la Shannon & Weaver, is one of the oldest, yet also one
of the most problematic. The ad exec doesn't want people going around
saying 'wassuuppp', the meme he or she wants to transmit is 'drink Bud',
but whatever the intent, reception doesn't automatically follow- the two
things don't automatically go together (and neither does people going wasup
and buying Bud).
One of the reasons this is the case is because the information
transmission model is problematised by the complicated nature of mass
communication, not least that the information changes from whatever's in
someone's head to some form of encoded expression in print, or on screen, or
in audio. The fact that the medium of information transmission changes the
nature of the information being conveyed is a basic point, but an important
one.
<Not all memes are behaviors, for example the classic "belief in
God." >
Well, views on this one have been fully expressed before. IMHO
'God' is a meme, belief in him/her/it is not.
Vincent
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