Subject: Re: The information theoretic view Was: JOM
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 16:33:26 -0400
From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
On 9/3/99 14:49, Robin Faichney said this-
>>Some interesting trends based on memetic engineering:
>>
>>o Proliferation of evangelistic religions in the face of an overall decline
>>in religiousness
>>o Proliferation of logoed clothes and products
>>o "Viral marketing" on the Internet: referral programs, associate plans,
>>etc.
>
>Is there any reason to believe that any of these are "consciously
>memetic"?
Or is there any reason not to think that from these examples 'memetic
engineering' is just a new twist on scams and hucksterism? I personally
do not like the pairing of 'memetic engineering' with con artists, and
I've seen a lot of that. It, to me at least, legitimatizes the scam, and
the scam artist.
I know this is a matter of degree and perspective- but '_looking at_ such
hucksterism memetically' sounds a whole lot better than _declaring_
confidence tricksters 'memetic engineers'.
Yes, no?
- Wade
===============================================================
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