From: "Richard Brodie" <richard@brodietech.com>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: implied or inferred memes
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 09:41:42 -0700
In-Reply-To: <19990912120255.63849.qmail@hotmail.com>
Raymond Recchia wrote:
<<Stated more abstractly, aren't there going to be situations in which we
can
say that if Meme A and Meme B are transmitted, then Meme C will arise. Meme
C is not directly transmitted, but is an indirect consequence of the
transmittal of A and B.>>
Said another way, direct imitation is only one small method of meme
transmission. The effect of cognitive dissonance, which requires the mind to
form a conclusion when presented with an unresolved situation, is a major
dynamic in meme transmission. The whole memeplex of consumerism, in which
the populace is subjected to enormous stimulation creating perceived
material needs, is a big cognitive-dissonance machine pulling people in the
direction of forming certain memes. Each advertiser wants to spread their
memes to their potential market, and overall the culture of consumerism is a
self-perpetuating mind virus rewarding consumers for buying and marketers
for successful marketing.
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme"
Free newsletter! http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
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