Date: Thu, 02 Sep 1999 03:03:21 -0700
From: Bill Spight <bspight@pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: i-memes and m-memes
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Aaron:
But no non-replicators. No more than there are losers in Vegas! There are only patrons who have not yet found their winning table!
Derek:
well, that last sentence shows the untenability of your thesis. Of course there are losers at Vegas!!! Are you advertising Vegas???
Bill:
Aaron's analogy between non-replicating memes and losers at Vegas (although I guess that he would say that losers at Vegas *are* memes) reminds me that memes not only replicate, they are culled by selection. Memes that are not selected do not replicate. They are like losers at Vegas. It's a pretty good analogy.
However, to stretch the analogy a bit, there are people who do not play, who do not enter the fray, who (in terms of winning at Vegas) never even have a chance to win. They are not memes.
I think we have to distinguish between failure to replicate and not having the opportunity to start with.
Aloha,
Bill "Young girls have picked them, every one" Spight
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