From: Joseph Bloch <jbloch@evolving.org>
To: memetics <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: Meme Extinction
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 17:22:59 -0400
Message-Id: <21241281202556@nac.net>
I was reading through the JOM, and was struck by the notion of memes going
extinct. A paradox occurred to me. Would it not be impossible, by
definition, to study "extinct" memes?
After all, if we define extinction of a meme as a lack of habitation in any
sort of information storage or transmission medium (such as a book or human
mind), wouldn't the very act of studying the meme revive it from
extinction? The person studying it would necessarily then become the host
for the meme, and it would then no longer be extinct. Sort of a catch-22.
------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Bloch, Executive Director
Church of Life Evolving
PO Box 2, Convent Station, NJ 07961
201-442-3921
http://www.evolving.org
===============================================================
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.fmb.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit