Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA20959 (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 15:24:24 GMT From: "Richard Brodie" <richard@brodietech.com> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Labels for memes Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 07:21:18 -0800 Message-ID: <JJEIIFOCALCJKOFDFAHBAEJLCDAA.richard@brodietech.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: <20010131095329.D10942@reborntechnology.co.uk> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Importance: Normal Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Robin,
<<My point is that, understanding that meme as an item of information,
a pattern encoded in his brain, you cannot then say that same pattern,
differently encoded in the ad, is not the same meme. >>
That's exactly what I'm saying. It's only a meme when it's in a mind.
<< If it's the same
pattern, it's the meme. Such is the numerical identity of information.>>
By that reasoning, a box score printed in the morning newspaper is the same
as last night's ballgame. Why bother buying a ticket and a hot dog? You
could just read the same information in tomorrow's paper. The answer is that
when replicable information is in a mind it has different properties than
when it's encoded in a TV broadcast signal. In particular, it has the
ability to influence the behavior of the owner of the mind. That's why we
have a special word "meme."
I'm guessing you would claim that a graphic representation of the amino-acid
sequence of a gene IS a gene. I would disagree.
<<``Information'' is very closely related to ``form,'' and form is what
two different things of the same type share. It therefore differs from
substance, or matter, in that one item of it can occur in more than
one place at one time.>>
But a meme is substantial. In fact, one of the most interesting things about
a meme is how many copies of it there are in different minds.
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com www.memecentral.com
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