Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id RAA20347 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 21 Apr 2001 17:51:37 +0100 From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: The Status of Memetics as a Science Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 12:52:01 -0400 Message-ID: <NEBBKOADILIOKGDJLPMAAEIHCCAA.debivort@umd5.umd.edu> 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 (9.0.2910.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 In-Reply-To: <00cf01c0ca79$820b3500$e65c2a42@jrmolloy> Importance: Normal Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
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.
LdB:
I only wish this were true, that academic understanding can rein in abuse.
We already know, academically, how manipulative comsumerism is on both kids
and adults, yet nothing is done, at least in the US, to put a damper on it.
Credit card debt is at an all time high, shopping is promoyed as a
recreation, and personal savings and investment, in the US, are among the
lowest per capita in the industrialized world.
Fortunately, some (smallish) portion of the teen population seem to be
renouncing consumerism, but it is with no thanks to the academics. It is, I
beleive based on anecdotal evidence, because they sense the inherent
unhealthiness of a consumerist orientation.
- Lawrence
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