Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA14472 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 27 Nov 2001 03:46:20 GMT Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 19:41:19 -0800 Message-Id: <200111270341.fAR3fJE14299@mail7.bigmailbox.com> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary X-Mailer: MIME-tools 4.104 (Entity 4.116) X-Originating-Ip: [216.76.251.115] From: "Joe Dees" <joedees@addall.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: A Question for Wade Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk('binary' encoding is not supported, stored as-is)
> "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> memetics@mmu.ac.uk Re: A Question for WadeDate: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 18:58:18 -0500
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>
>
>
>
>
>>From: "Joe Dees" <joedees@addall.com>
>>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>>To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>>Subject: Re: A Question for Wade
>>Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 14:48:44 -0800
>>
>>
>>
>> > Re: A Question for WadeDate: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 14:32:16 -0500
>> > "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> "Memetics Discussion List"
>><memetics@mmu.ac.uk>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>> >
>> >Hi Scott Chase -
>> >
>> >>What's so special about the "meme" term? Why can't we just use "idea",
>> >>"belief", or "concept" to say the same thing? As Ernst Mayr says of the
>> >>meme:
>> >>
>> >>(bq) "It seems to me that this word is nothing but an unnecessary
>>synonym of
>> >>the term "concept"." (eq)
>> >
>> >All of which and thus forced me to reconstruct my own thinking and remove
>> >all farce. The meme is a cultural artifact. Any other usage is erroneous
>> >and multiplicative.
>> >
>> Memes are not things, but meaningful patterns in which matter/energy
>>is arranged. This is true whether we are talking about the meaningful
>>sound patterns in which air is arranged to enunciate words, the meaningful
>>geometrical patterns in which ink or pixels or pencil lead are arranged to
>>write them, the meaningful action patterns out bodies enact in order to
>>type or write or speak them, or the meaningful neuron/synapse activation
>>patterns in which such representations are stored in our brains.
>>
>Did you catch my question to you where I asked what the difference between
>your beloved L-meme and a mnemon, the latter term actually used by Lynch
>himself, though independent of Young and Cherkin? What's your opinion of
>Lynch saying on his website (http://www.thoughtcontagion.com) that the term
>"meme" is expendable? If we are talking about internal neural
>representations related to memory storage there are terms with longer
>pedigrees IMO.
>
I think that one of the prime possible benefits of the memetic perspective is that it promises to unite much theory and research found in other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, etc., under a single overarching evolutionary paradigm. The use of the term 'meme' to talk about that element central to each which mutates, replicates, and is selected for/against is not necessary, but it works for me, and another term that serves the same purpose and refers to the same referent would have to be coined or definitionally modified (baggage-cleansed) for use, so why not use 'meme'?
>
>>The selfsame meme, say, the idea that memes don't exist, may be represented
>>in all of these differing media, and yet be the same meme, for what is
>>constant is not the pattern itself (example: different languages), since a
>>meme may be represented in many different ways in any particular medium,
>>and may be represented in many different media, but the connection between
>>the patterns, as differing representamens, and the idea or concept, as
>>referent. To say that these representati!
>>ons exist (as they obviously do), and that they MEAN the same thing, and
>>then to maintain that they possess no common referent, makes no logical
>>sense to me.
>>
>>
>
>
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>This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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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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