Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id EAA22509 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 3 Apr 2001 04:54:33 +0100 From: <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 22:56:46 -0500 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: RE: The Demise of a Meme Message-ID: <3AC903AE.16288.1FA3DE@localhost> In-reply-to: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745D4B@inchna.stir.ac.uk> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 2 Apr 2001, at 16:12, Vincent Campbell wrote:
> ummm...... I suspect some hidden complexity here that I'm too
> harassed, or too dumb (yep shout the gallery) to get. I suppose
> arbitrary decisions need not be false per se, but they're only ever
> right by chance (just like all those "systems" people use to try and
> win lotteries).
>
> Vincent
>
Arbitrary = without reference to the state or process of affairs
purportedly represented. Thus, onomotopoeic words (such as
'hiss' for the sound a snake makes) are not arbitrary or by mutual
convention, since the sound of the term resembles the sound made
by the referent, while the name 'snake' to refer to the no-legged
critter that so hisses is an arbitrary term, agreed upon by mutual
convention; we could just as well call snakes 'egbert's', if we all
agreed to..
> > ----------
> > From: Scott Chase
> > Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 7:18 am
> > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > Subject: RE: The Demise of a Meme
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk>
> > >
> > (snip)
> > >
> > > I'd disagree here, religion's yardsticks aren't private,
> > > they're
> > >social, and crucially, arbitrary.
> > >
> > >
> > Would you equate "false" with "arbitrary"?
> >
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
> > =============================================================== This
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> >
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
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> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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>
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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
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