Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id VAA26682 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 7 Feb 2002 21:50:38 GMT X-Originating-IP: [194.117.133.84] From: "Steve Drew" <srdrew_1@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: ply to Grant Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 21:44:55 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F99rWkmNHQFAnzLHBdI00008c02@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Feb 2002 21:44:55.0838 (UTC) FILETIME=[AEA203E0:01C1B020] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 14:58:32 -0800
From: "Grant Callaghan" <grantc4@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: ply to Grant
>
>>Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 07:18:26 -0800
>From: "Grant Callaghan" <grantc4@hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: ply to Grant
>
>It IS worth billions. Just look at the culture that Bill Gates built
>and
>the billions he collected for his efforts. The same goes for Hewlett
>Packard, Apple and Intel. They didn't just invent new products. They
>also
>invented new ways of organizing labor and management so that labor was
>able
>to share the riches and become totally involved in the work they were
>doing.
> Tom Peters propagated these ideas in his books on how these ideas
>changed
>big business.<
>
>I agree with you and disagree. Asi said earlier, it= thought Naomi
Klien
>had
>the gist of it in that big buisness picked upon the idea of memes
without
>any notion of theory. To her it is termed *brand* - it conveys an idea
of
>the company and not its products. Hence bill Gates get his billions (He
has
>even talked openly about making his software more reliable, which will
be
>nice {ok i'm biased i use Apple, ).
>
>On the minus side, yes some folks did get rich, but if Kliens book is
true
>many others got poorer. many of Tom Peters reccomendations are for
>outsourcing. The (any) company becomes a marketing company (meme
factory?),
>with the productyion of goods, relegated to contractors, with the use
of
>casual labour, far east sweat shops etc I think Aarron referred to this
>danger earlier, and it is a real danger.
>
>Steve
>
Hi grant, i couldn’t reply earlier than this, and i’ve read some of the
later postings. My friends would pee themselves laughing to hear me
described as leftist. Peolpe have confused me with things before, but not
that.
>I get the impression we're talking about different things.<
Indeed we were. I accept what you have said, it was just that when i read
it, it came across to me as different from that which you may have intended.
>I'm talking
about the culture of manufacturing and you seem to be talking about
marketing and products, which is a separate but associated culture. If
a
sweat shop produces a part for Microsoft, that has little or nothing to
do
with the culture Bill Gates and his associates built on their campus in
Seattle Washington.<
True enough
>Judgements about whether this is good or bad for
society have no relevance that I can see. As always, it will be good
for
some people and bad for others.<
Given your ideas that memes are something that we choose freely, judgements
will play a part in our interpretation, and reaction to social situations.
that is true even in my more limited interpretation of part choice of the
memes we chose and those that choose us.
>That's a position from the eye of the
beholder. It wasn't long ago the Chinese thought communist economics
were
good for everybody. Now they like capitalism and the WTO. They may
change
their minds again. Who knows? Who cares, other than the Chnese?<
Any one that their sweatshops can undercut.
>The one
thing you can be sure of is that minds will change and so will culture.
Grant<
Microsoft does indeed appear to be the fittest around at the moment, in
terms of its ability to survive in the market place. To go back to your
analogy with Ford. I recall that he said *you can have any colour you like
so long as its black*. The only cars that i have owned have been neither
Ford, nor Black. The computer i own is Apple as is the software. If it
wasn't it would be Linux. Only the past is a guide to what is fit. If it is
in the past it wasn't fit. The definiton of most fit to me is
circumstantial, and subject to change without notice. (A point we can agree
on?). The horse was used as an example of a succesful species in the past
despite the fact that in its place of origin, the USA, it became extinct and
that essentially, the horse existed only on the sufferance of man because we
found a use for it in Eurasia. (See Stephen. J. Gould's - Life's Grandeur).
regards
Steve
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