Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981124114934.00bca930@popmail.mcs.net>
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 11:49:34 -0600
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Aaron Lynch <aaron@mcs.net>
Subject: THOUGHT CONTAGION in paperback
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19981122113727.00b36b2c@popmail.mcs.net>
The paperback edition of my memetics book _Thought Contagion_ has started
arriving in American bookstores after a delay caused by the re-structuring
of Basic Books.
In the new preface, I comment on the significance of thought contagion
memetics:
"Thought contagion theory relates directly and personally to everyone’s
lives; it is anything but a realm of dry conjecture. ... Its practical
implications extend to violence, racism, neo-fascism, religious strife,
overpopulation, street gangs, financial markets, Y2K myths, apocalyptic
religion, child raising, abortion clashes, sexual politics, gay bashing,
war, terrorism, AIDS, drug policy, and many other areas...." I will be
further discussing practical implications of memetics in a nationwide
series of radio interviews, starting with the Boston program "Business
Power Lunch" on December 15 at noon (WADN-AM 1120). I will not announce
each booking on the memetics list, but will add them to my web page.
The preface also comments on objections that "memetics is just a metaphor":
"...Charles Darwin used a metaphor to apply the cultural concept of
'inheritance' to biological evolution in The Origin of Species. Today, we
hardly remember that the word heredity is based on that old cultural
metaphor. In a sense, biological science is just returning an old favor..."
My thanks to all of you who bought the hardcover of Thought Contagion and
helped put it on the _New Scientist_ best seller list!
--Aaron Lynch
http://www.mcs.net/~aaron/thoughtcontagion.html
===============================================================
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