From: "Richard Brodie" <richard@brodietech.com>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: Vertical vs. horizontal transmission (was: JASSS Critical Review...)
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 07:07:47 -0700
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19990429234030.00a45e48@popmail.mcs.net>
Aaron wrote:
<<With Mormonism, the effects of
vertical and horizontal transmission combined give a time constant in
decades.>>
As you say, this is not just a single meme that is propagating. Do you make
a distinction between memes, meme complexes, and the cultural organisms that
I call Viruses of the Mind that self-replicate using people's minds? I would
put both Mormonism and American Catholicism in the last category.
I know that Mormons do evangelize, and they do have a lot of children. What
is the data for number of people who call themselves Mormons in the world
over the last few decades? How do you distinguish between vertical and
horizontal transmission?
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme"
Free newsletter! http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
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