From: <levy@Oswego.EDU>
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 14:10:27 -0500 (EST)
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Significance of memetics
In-Reply-To: <199811220859.IAA20274@alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk>
> From: Lloyd Robertson <hawkeye@rongenet.sk.ca>
> I am intrigued by Dennett's suggestion that collectivities of mutually
> reinforcing memes that replicate as units may be seen as some kind of
> ethereal life form. Deliniating these meme structures and studying how they
> perform within our overall culture would be of interest to me. For example,
> I suspect that a number of meme-structures are competing for control of the
> Roman Catholic soul. It would be interesting to study such structures and
> develop a theory that would predict the outcomes of such competitions.
If memes interact forming structures at that level of complexity, is this
grounds for an anthropomorphic study of culture? Perhaps culture is the
outcome of many interactions between self-organizing memetic "persons"
whose boundaries are less defined than that of the typical individual.
If this is the case then we should notice this more directly when more
comprehensive languages are developed, alowing for more externalization of
internal representation and assimilation. One implication is that the
transfer of high level semantic structures can result in bonds between
minds, transfering the control over the activity of a group of bodies to
to the level of the self-organizing group mind.
- -
-Robert P. Levy-
- -
A random quote...
"Many people would rather die than think;
in fact, most do." -Bertrand Russell
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