Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA01519 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 30 Jan 2002 03:34:06 GMT X-Originating-IP: [209.240.222.132] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Meme bonding Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 22:28:15 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F449epRF7bELXrP1YyT00009392@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 30 Jan 2002 03:28:15.0718 (UTC) FILETIME=[27668060:01C1A93E] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: "Francesca S. Alcorn" <unicorn@greenepa.net>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>Subject: Re: Meme bonding
>Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 15:31:57 -0500
>
>Wade said:
>
>>Well, from the external stance, there ain't no memes running around
>>inside our heads, it's all a sort of managed chaos, which, sometimes,
>>culture and environment willing, will behave as a meme. What actually
>>makes these connections and prompts this behavior, is, well, where
>>creativity comes from. Memes are a special class of creativity- creations
>>that fit into a culture with enough connective recognition to be
>>replicated. But then, culture is connective recognition.
>
>
>Well yes, I get your point, but it's not going to stop me from
>thinking about this. And I don't believe it is chaotic, not for a
>second. If we are going to attempt to understand the neural
>correlates of these things we have to start somewhere. Who knows, we
>might just come up with something which *does* make it possible to
>quantify this. Certainly we will *not* if no one ever makes the
>attempt.
>
>I think that there *are* external representations of internal thought
>processes. For instance the Dewey Decimal System is used to organize
>books in a library. Doesn't the way that books are categorized
>reflect the way that we categorize ideas in our minds? And in turn,
>it influences the way we categorize our ideas mentally - a sort of
>meme of organization passed on from one generation to the next -
>reflecting "classical" thought. One wonders how the Library of
>Congress classification system might not influence successive
>generations of scholars. And certainly fields like evolutionary
>psychology and ethology challenge a system of classification which
>assumed a distinction which is no longer there.
>
>
What do you mean by the Library of Congress system not influencing
successive generations of scholars? The university and local community
college libraries I'm familiar with use the Library of Congress system,
where local public libraries use the Dewey Decimal system.
Scholars at the academic (university and community college) libraries would
be subjected to (influenced by?) the LoC system.
Book categorizing doesn't seem to fall into a natural system of categories
like one sees in phylogeny of organisms. I'm not a book categorizer, so I'm
just babbling.
Classification of books seems to run into difficulties in that some books
are kinda like hybrids that could fall into several categories.
If you had a book on computer applications for businesses, would you put it
with other computer books or within the business oriented sections
somewhere? There might be some books that could be difficult to place as to
whether they are fictions or mysteries. I guess similar problems exist in
phylogeny, but at least there seems to be a natural system to shoot for,
where I'm not so sure a natural system could exist for library materials,
which would be classified mostly for ease of storage and retrieval.
If an author writes both fiction and mystery, one winds up splitting that
author's works between the two categories. What if they wrote some science
fiction, non-fiction and an autobiography too? Wouldn't it be better to put
all an author's books together, regardless of category? If one wanted merely
to browse all works on the shelf by a particular author alone it would be,
but I guess that's what the make computerized card catalog systems for. Just
enter the author's name and presto.
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