Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19980210203628.006ac22c@popmail.mcs.net>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 20:36:28 -0600
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Aaron Lynch <aaron@mcs.net>
Subject: Re: Join the Crew Meme
In-Reply-To: <S+K400SlSfGR092yn@login.dknet.dk>
>I can testify to the extraordinary virulence of the Join the Crew E-mail
Meme.
>I received it from a computer expert, the webmaster of the Copenhagen
>Engineering College where I work. He had forwarded it to everybody in the
>electronics department. I was the only one who got suspicious. When I mailed
>him back and told that it was a hoax he got surprised and asked how did I
know
>(It only took a few minutes of AltaVista search to confirm my suspicion).
>
>It ought to be obvious to an electronics expert like our webmaster that the
>message was a hoax, but apparently he didn't think twice before he forwarded
>the message to everybody.
>
>The hook of the meme is a very powerful one: the threat of wiping out your
hard
>disk. Can such a powerful hook make people stop thinking?
It certainly seems to shut down the thought process. But of course we both
know that what it really does is to get recipients thinking very intensely
about how to protect themselves. Your web master, for instance, must have
been thinking very intensely about how to stop "Join the Crew" from ruining
the system on which he depends for his livelihood. The meme subverts the
thought process for its own retransmission, rather than shutting down the
brain.
>====-------------------------agner@login.dknet.dk-------------------------=
===
>Agner Fog, Ph.D. See my electronic book: 'Cultural Selection'
>Denmark at: http://announce.com/agner/cultsel
>
>===============================================================
>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
>
>
--Aaron Lynch
http://www.mcs.net/~aaron/thoughtcontagion.html
===============================================================
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