Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA27616 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 3 Oct 2001 14:36:03 +0100 From: "salice" <salice@gmx.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 15:30:40 +0000 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: What/who selects memes? In-reply-to: <20011003123527.CWAR863.t21mta03-app.talk21.com@t21mtaV-lrs> Message-Id: <E15om8t-000505-00@dryctnath.mmu.ac.uk> Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> No, I dispute this. There's a huge amount of real life examples
> that show that people do a lot of thinking
> - but that's not the same thing.
Yes thinking and meme-handling is not the same but it both happens in
the brain.
> >Just look a few mails ago, a text on memetics and >terrorism giving
> >advises not to spread certain memes.
> Yes, but that text advises that certain behaviours should be avoided.
I don't know whether you read the text but it advised to avoid
spreading certain memes.
- Avoid giving a positive rationale for those responsible for
the event
- Avoid repetitious or excessive reporting of the event
- Avoid sensationalising the event
And so on. That has all to do with memes. You can for example decide
to sensationalize the event therefore spread this kind of memes or
you decide against it and not spread the memes. You decide.
Shortly after the WTC attack, there were pictures floating around
from pakistani people dancing in the streets. Some TV stations showed
these pictures some didn't. They decided to spread this meme or not
based on a thinking process in their brain.
> >How do you know that raw food is potentially dangerous in >certain
> >circumstances?
> But Stone Age people _didn't know_, that's the whole point.
Sure they knew, they wouldn't have survived otherwise.
Some might died, but others learned from them who died, they received
this meme and survived because of it.
> The ones who cooked food had longer and more reproductive lives
>than the ones who didn't - but they were probably completely
>oblivious to >
If there ever had be the first family who cooked food and
it showed that they had better lives then this meme "cooking
food concept" spread because other people realized that it's wise to
cook food, they selected this meme and let it spread. I could make up
a hypothetical meme "Drinking petroleum is good" and even life
accordingly to it, but the meme wouldn't spread very far because
people would see that i died from drinking petroleum so their brain
wouldn't let this meme survive and spread. Obvious.
> >Human society is a collection of brains and communication >between
> >them. So culture lives in brains.
> No, human society is a collection of people and the artifacts they leave behind.
I agree.
Humans have nevertheless the possibility to destroy artifacts. If
they do this it's because a thinking process in their brain made them
to. Their brain selects whether a meme (in this case an artifact)
should survive. People also decide whether an artifact becomes an
artifact. There are a lot of authors, painters, musicians etc. but
a lot lower percentage of works which survive. And People select.
> >look like yours but the resulting meme is going to be >saved in both
> >of these structures in whatever way.
> Excatly, the meme isn't in the brain.
I haven't said that. I wrote "the resulting meme is going to be saved
in both of these structures in whatever way". So it's in the brain.
Read before you answer.
PS: I gave you examples how i store memes and handle memes in my
head just like everyone does, you didn't reply to them, i guess
because you can't find an argument against it.
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