Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA04889 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 31 Jan 2002 13:19:21 GMT Subject: Re: necessity of mental memes Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 08:13:46 -0500 x-sender: wsmith1@camail.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "Memetics Discussion List" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-Id: <20020131131337.C40421FD48@camail.harvard.edu> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Hi AaronLynch@aol.com -
>Still, this is the Internet, subject to all the caveats raised in Wade's
>"Faking it" post, and then some. There are also various ideas of "memetic
>engineering" (including the "engineering" of beliefs) spreading around.
>Manipulating people with fake information (often to provide information)
>also runs in some circles of hacker culture. I don't, however, know of
>cases where papers were published by non-existent authors. So on that
>level, science does not work that way. Receiving carefully written
>pseudonymous emails about science is another matter entirely -- although
>still only a small minority of communications. Not knowing how one can
>detect such things readily suggests the possibility of self-preserving
>misbeliefs. On the other hand, telling how to spot a fake would only
>change the way fakes are done.
Several issues raised above, all of which should be concerning us.
"Self-preserving mis-beliefs" - gotta love it.
Here in Boston, the catholic church has run out of its insurance money to
pay off the victims of its protected and sheltered pederasts (AKA
priests). There are several hundred civil cases remaining, and, with a
small glimmer of hope, perhaps this bastion of self-preserved mis-belief
might take a tumble.
But it's the little ones around us that nip and scratch at our welfare.
And, yes, self-preservation is a powerful tool.
- Wade
===============================================================
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 : Thu Jan 31 2002 - 13:28:07 GMT