Re: The Status of Memetics as a Science

From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Sat Apr 21 2001 - 16:41:12 BST

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From: "J. R. Molloy" <jr@shasta.com>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
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Subject: Re: The Status of Memetics as a Science
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 08:41:12 -0700
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    From: "TJ Olney" <market@cc.wwu.edu>
    > If you think "memetic engineering" doesn't happen, you are sadly mistaken.
    > It is the heart of politics and the soul of commerce. The research budgets
    > of companies, advertising agencies, and public relations firms are enormous.
    > I'd bet there are even professionals in all three fields lurking in the
    > membership of this list. Why? Because, science or not, there are
    profoundly
    > practical implications for how to tailor campaigns of any kind to spread
    > points of view and sell products.

    In further support of your comments, I'd add that a scientific understanding
    of memetics can help humanity to avoid the kind of misuse practiced by
    propagandists. The dismissal of memetics by social commentators serves to make
    it a more powerful tool in the hands of miscreants (in my meme-ridden
    opinion).

    --J. R.

    Useless hypotheses:
     consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
    analog computing, cultural relativism

         Everything that can happen has already happened, not just once,
         but an infinite number of times, and will continue to do so forever.
         (Everything that can happen = more than anyone can imagine.)

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