Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 12:13:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Lawrence H. de Bivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: "Speed Seduction" revisited (was RE: astrology-talk behavior)
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19990520204634.014e8ed8@popmail.mcs.net>
Greetings,
I am new to this list, wish to say how much I have enjoyed the discussion
to date.
This matter of "seduction" prompts me to write.
The creation of rapport or linkage between two people has little, I think,
to do with memes. Rapport is simply a matter of creating the (real or
false) sense of similarity with another person. This can be achieved
deliberately and simply, in the ways that earlier writers have referenced,
through the exhibition of similarities. This creates in the 'subject' the
sense of being recognized and 'seen'. In a world where people rush around
and ignore each other, this feeling of being seen is powerful and
attractive, and can pave the way to seduction, or any of a number of
relationships that thrive when people develop trust, whether they do so
for real or false reasons. Conversation, specific topics like astrology or
gardening or the euro can all serve this purpose of establishing linkage,
as can what one wears, or one's activities, etc. Linkage in itself does
not equal influence: rather, it only creates the conditions in which
influence may be better exerted.
Memes are something else: they are artifacts that disseminate themselves
through the medium of people and other social organizations. They have
several properties that enable them to do so. They _may_ utilize the
dynamics of linkage to do so, but do not require it. Either way, linkage
or rapport as such do not have memetic properties.
Lawrence de Bivort
|---------------------------------------------|
| ESI |
| Evolutionary Services Institute |
| "Crafting opportunities for a better world" |
| 5504 Scioto Road, Bethesda, MD 20816, USA |
| (301) 320-3941 |
|---------------------------------------------|
===============================================================
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