Subject: Re: i-memes and m-memes
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 09:41:18 -0400
From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
>Seems to me about time to ditch the argument about where they
>live, and accept they're peripatetic.
Peripatetic- A follower of the philosophy of Aristotle; an Aristotelian.
It's about time the finest philosopher of all the eons was brought into
this....
>I think it important to acknowledge the
>involvement of the brain, and the best way I can think of to do so is to
>view memes as residing there during one half of their life cycle.
But, so far, I still see them as 'living' their entire 'lives' within
this brain, and not being peripatetic to the point of wandering outside
that, admittedly, strange little boundary. (For it may indeed be that
memetics is a discussion about the boundaries of the mind more than
anything else.)
But I could be swayed, because, yes, I suppose, in some way, I me and
myself could be said to have an extended life, some of which is lived in
my life span, but a lot of which will be lived in my childrens', and a
lot of which was lived in my parents', and a lot of which could be lived
in some way if any of these words are carried off, peripatetically, by
those reading them.
So, a small thought- maybe there might be some validity to thinking about
a half-life structure with memes, and so integrate the physical matter
template, and so punctuate the equilibrium of the genetic model, which is
not working entirely well.
Although, genes certainly can be said to be peripatetic, in the same
sense. Long distance romance, anyone?
?
- Wade
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