Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 17:55:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tim Rhodes <proftim@speakeasy.org>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: RE: Vertical vs. horizontal transmission (was: JASSS Critical
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19990430133107.00aed224@popmail.mcs.net>
On Fri, 30 Apr 1999, Aaron Lynch wrote:
> Much longer time constants are possible, though are likely to be harder to
> measure. For instance, if a meme spreads at 10% per 25-year generation over
> 5000 years, that is a 190-million fold increase--easily enough to go from a
> first few adherents to a major phenomenon of hundreds of millions or
> billions of people. Yet the time constant is 262 years, which is so gradual
> as to go unnoticed by people during their own lifetimes.
That is 10% net, of course. If it had a conversion rate of 10% but a drop-out
rate of 15% per generation the same meme would become extinct just as gradually.
-Tim Rhodes
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