Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA04970 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 6 Oct 2001 20:41:06 +0100 Message-ID: <000b01c14ea4$7ae33c00$2aaabed4@default> From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <E15om8t-000505-00@dryctnath.mmu.ac.uk> Subject: Re: What/who selects memes? Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 22:20:50 +0200 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: salice <salice@gmx.net>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
> - 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.
Hi Salice,
I don 't want to nitpit, but according to experiments conducted by P.
Haggard
of University College London is it revealed that the motor cortex in our
brain is getting active 2000 milliseconds before a decision was made.
Do you, in such circumstances have a real choise !?
Could the feeling of having made a decision just be a (memetic) illusion !?
(Source, Brain Story, by Susan Greenfield)
> 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.
<< IMO, that was not based primary on a thinking process.
Primary such a choise, such a decision was based upon moralistic conside-
rations and appropiate aesthetics.
Although, these were based upon a former, than secundair thinking process,
but where those people based their decision upon was basically experience.
It is not that such attacks happened for the first time that people had no
experience with extreme violence and attrocities of any kind.
Those people based their decision upon former memetic lineages, cultural,
social, easthetic, moralistic traits and habits if you like.
But those attacks were in that manner different from all the rest that even
the Palestian authorities condempted the outbursts of joy.
The showing of sympathy could be faked or not, I do not know, but the
speed where with they renounced any involment with those outbursts is
important. It shows how different those attacks are....Even their by war
" changed " way of thinking, their " changed " memetic built up, could not
grasp such a outburst of violence.
And on the other hand, they knew instinctivily that those attacks were bad
publicity for the Palestian cause... that too was not a result of a primary
thinking process, but was due to past experience.
Regards,
Kenneth
( I am, because we are)
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