Re: A Question for Wade

From: Wade T.Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Mon Nov 26 2001 - 01:55:01 GMT

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Subject: Re: A Question for Wade
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 20:55:01 -0500
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From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
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    Hi Joe Dees -

    >No, but you can act upon the ideas of mass production and interchangeable
    >parts to build a factory to produce cars and a whole lot of other products.

    Yup.

    And, yup, you can produce all sorts of memes.

    But, from my new perspective, none of those ideas are memes, at all. But,
    yes, if you act upon those ideas, and build that factory- that factory
    itself is a marvelous memeplex, and, could (could...) produce a meme.
    (But it doesn't have to- it could lie fallow, or unfinished, or,
    competition could ruin it.)

    Until and if you put together that factory, it hasn't made a meme. And
    until it does, there is no meme to speak of (other than the myriad of
    memes that make up the fabric of the factory).

    Once that car is available, then and only then can it be used. And only
    in the using can a meme evolve.

    I won't call an idea a meme- because, (besides the fact that it's already
    been called an idea), right now, I'm trying to maintain an absolute
    working perspective, similar, I suppose, to that strange subset of
    language-study that refuses to use E, although I think calling nothing
    that is not an actual artifact a meme is more useful and descriptive.

    I am trying to be difficult for a specific purpose.

    - Wade

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