Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA25317 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 25 Jan 2002 13:21:01 GMT X-Originating-IP: [217.34.78.22] From: "Paul Marsden" <paulsmarsden@hotmail.com> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Baseball Test Case Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 13:16:26 -0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Message-ID: <LAW2-OE252a9J1UW9Zs0000c3a4@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 25 Jan 2002 13:16:42.0422 (UTC) FILETIME=[87C53D60:01C1A5A2] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Derek:
Sports are not infectious agents that spring from one individual to
another - and neither are most aspects of culture. Therefore the issue of
numbers is inconsequential at best, as we clearly see in this case. That's
why I called this thread the Baseball Test Case - it provides the reductio
ad absurdam demonstration that _this kind _of analysis is useless.
Paul:
I agree - but at a qualitative level is it not useful to construct a
research agenda, including hypotheses, around the idea that exposure is a
necessary and sometimes apparently sufficient condition for adoption - and
thus is communicable to some extent by contact, ie. contagious or
infectious, rather than adoption by either intentional influence such as
coercion (force) or persuasion (argument), or by structural and situational
imperatives?
===============================================================
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 archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jan 25 2002 - 13:40:19 GMT