Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id BAA20045 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 29 Nov 2001 01:25:47 GMT From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: A Question for Wade Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 20:22:08 -0500 Message-ID: <NEBBKOADILIOKGDJLPMAMEGGCIAA.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: <F176l8aii08N8yxdZjf00013492@hotmail.com> Importance: Normal Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Ray, you asked if memes are a good idea; how many "professionals" use the
idea is irrelevant, but I'll give it a try:
> >It is an excellent idea, in that it has allowed distinctions to be made
> >that
> >have proved useful in the fields of sociology (e.g. understanding of
> >social,
> >religious and political movements), linguisitics (e.g. structure of
> >self-dissemination and self-protection), psychology (e.g. personality
> >profiling), and persuasion.
> >
> What proportion of professionals in these fields actually use memetics as
> the basis of their work?
I would guess very few, with higher numbers in linguistics and persuasion.
If you can tell us how many professionals exist in these fields, then one
might guess at the proportion. I do await your data.
> Has memetics had an impact beyond the
> fishbowl of
> memetics itself or beyond some popularizations.
What do you mean by 'fishbowl'? Memetics must have its first and primary
impact on the field of memetics, surely, in the same way that physics has
its primary impact in the field of physics. Yes, there has been some
popularization of the idea of memes, but fortunately, for my POV, much of it
has been shallow and misleading. I say fortunately because I have no
interest in popularizing the idea of memes. To my own knowledge, memetics
has made a contribution to the fields I listed in my last email, though, as
we agree, not many 'professionals' in those fields know about memes. While
I am thinking of it, let me add another field to which memes have
contributed usefully: leadership and management.
> Are a large proportion of
> serious professionals in the subdivisions of the social sciences serious
> about the supposed toolbox of memetics or do they pass it off as a toybox
> perhaps?
I think that they are mostly ignorant of memes. There are so many different
representations of memes that how one might respond to the idea may be more
a matter of what version one has been exposed to than any intrinsic utility
of the idea.
BTW, I am equating the 'good' of an idea with its utility. I realize that
not everyone will agree with this by any means, and that there are other
measures of an idea's 'good'ness.
> >Professionally and technically, I view myself as indebted to Dawkins for
> >the
> >nubbin of the idea, and several others, many on this list, for sharing in
> >the process of discovery that has advanced us to this point.
> >
> Recapitulationists may hve had similar sentiment toward Haeckel
> in another
> era for a simplistic parallel between ontogeny and phylogeny.
Huh?
> >
> >Lawrence de Bivort
> >The Memetics Group
> >
> > > > > >meme sounds nicer.
> > > > >
> > > > > It is an attractive, catchy, little word, ain't it?
> > > > >
> > > > > Like a new peanut butter, ready to spread on crackers and toast.
> > > > >
> > > > > Probably one of the reasons people want to put it in every
> > > casserole in
> > > > > their ovens.
> > > >
> > > >Sounds like you're saying it's a successful meme.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > But is it a good idea?
> >
> >
> >===============================================================
> >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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>
>
> ===============================================================
> 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
===============================================================
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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