Re: Labels for memes

From: Robin Faichney (robin@reborntechnology.co.uk)
Date: Thu Feb 01 2001 - 12:36:35 GMT

  • Next message: Vincent Campbell: "RE: Labels for memes"

    Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA25489 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 1 Feb 2001 13:00:50 GMT
    Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 12:36:35 +0000
    To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    Subject: Re: Labels for memes
    Message-ID: <20010201123635.A487@reborntechnology.co.uk>
    References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745C25@inchna.stir.ac.uk>
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
    Content-Disposition: inline
    User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.12i
    In-Reply-To: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745C25@inchna.stir.ac.uk>; from v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk on Thu, Feb 01, 2001 at 11:45:53AM -0000
    From: Robin Faichney <robin@reborntechnology.co.uk>
    Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk
    Precedence: bulk
    Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    

    On Thu, Feb 01, 2001 at 11:45:53AM -0000, Vincent Campbell wrote:
    > <Sorry Vincent, but while I sympathise that we might be ignoring
    > your
    > > expertise, I don't see that anything you say here impacts the main
    > > issue: the informational nature of the meme and its transmission.
    > > If we can agree on that, then we can address the complexities of mass
    > > communications.>
    > >
    > Perhaps, I guess it's a question of where one's emphasis lies in
    > relation to the memetic process. If it's internal then indeed outward
    > communications processes may matter little or not at all.

    You think maybe my emphasis is internal? Haven't you seen any of my
    messages in this very thread???

    My point above is not that these complexities don't matter generally, just
    that we need to get the basics clear before going on to deal with them.
    In particular, if we agree on the information transmission model, then
    we can deal with these complexities using communications theory, which
    is a big plus!
     
    > But is it imitation or something else, like social learning?

    Imitation need not be direct. The word can be used wherever there is
    a similarity between stimulus and response. Again, this is broad brush
    stuff, and I'm deliberately avoiding the detail.

    > Do
    > children copy the beliefs of their parents, or are they taught them?

    For my present purposes, there's no significant difference.

    > When a
    > child prays before going to bed at night do they pray to the same God as
    > their parents?

    The fact there may be differences is irrelevant. All we need for memetics
    is that there are also similarities.

    -- 
    Robin Faichney
    robin@reborntechnology.co.uk
    

    =============================================================== 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



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Feb 01 2001 - 13:04:58 GMT