From: "Dynsys Outlook" <sbennet@dns1.dynsys.com>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: Regarding the IMR & Happy New Year / New Millenium to All
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 08:42:51 -0500
In-Reply-To: <006401bf435e$d050b440$0201a8c0@ansible>
Found your clarifications interesting ... and am one of those people who
purchased the Journal of Ideas and have enjoyed the material therein ... but
would disagree with you regarding "there is not bible of memetics" ...
indeed, I think Blackmore's book is very close to that and, after the second
reading, am looking at it more and more in that vain. I haven't had the
opportunity to be immersed in memetics for ten years, but have been looking
at it (for about five years) in terms of understanding -- and affecting --
government organizations. From my somewhat outside perception, Blackmore's
approach provides the solid thinking I've been reaching for ...
Alex Bennet
-----Original Message-----
From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
Of elan
Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 5:35 PM
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Regarding the IMR & Happy New Year / New Millenium to All
I've been watching with 'distant' interest the progress of Memetics over the
past 10 years. It is thrilling to see the Journal of Memetics come into
being with dedicated, energetic individuals on its editorial board. The
advisory board JoM-EMIT is impressive as well.
I write this letter to congratulate the Journal and its boards, as well as
to shed light on some specuations raised in the memetics discussion list
(memetics@mmu.ac.uk, archives of which are located at
http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/~majordom/memetics/ ).
About ten years ago I started what I called the 'Institute for Memetic
Research' (IMR) with a principal goal of publishing a "Journal of Ideas" and
hopefully at some later time initiating funded research. The goal was to be
of service to a broad community of researchers. It was in fact delightful
to communicate via pre-historic e-mail, telephone, and letters. I do
believe I helped foster some useful contacts between individuals. Given
that some of the folks that subscribed to the Journal included the MIT
AI-Lab library and some other university libraries, perhaps it had some
impact. I do know that when I suspended publication, there were letters and
calls requesting upcoming issues. As it were, production and distributions
costs exceeded the revenues generated. It is so gratifying to see the web
as a medium of publication today.
The Journal of Ideas (JOI) did function as intended. In fact it was
useful as a forum for some members of the current JoM-EMIT editorial board.
It was a selective enterprise and did decline to publish a number of
submitted papers. (Hopefully, those whose papers were 'rejected' can look in
retrospect and perhaps be thankful that their early attempts did not make
it into print).
Speculations about my endorsement of "Virus of the Mind (VotM)" were
discussed on the list, as well as the authenticity of the Institute for
Memetic Research. Regarding VotM: I meant what I said. Implied affiliations
of the author to Bill Gates were far removed from my consideration. In fact,
I didn't note that untill I saw the finished product. Should I need to
contact the Bill, I'm pretty sure I can figure out how to do
so. I would be just as happy to endorse 'Thought Contagion" if it were
requested.
Let me be clear here. Both Brodie and Lynch (in alphabetical order, no need
to try to figure out more than that) have contributed to memetics. Brodie
with discussions aimed at the intelligent general public, and Lynch to those
who can manipulate integrals. There is no "Bible of
Memetics" at this time, so there's no need to 'earn' the mantle of author of
the BOM.
Regarding the IMR and Amtrak ... sadly there is no Amtrak station in Panama
City. The closest major station is in Atlanta. What defines a legitimate
institute and institutions is something different altogether. I urge the
discussants to read "A Theory of Justice" by John Rawls.
I've tried to learn as much physics as I could from Dick F., however the
most significant message that stuck was simply to observe nature, avoid
pretensions, and enjoy clear thinking. So, I'd like to share that with all
the memeticists who might be reading this. Time expended away from
scientifc research is simply irretrievably lost.
Just think, you might could perform a memetic experiment using the web this
very minute, and actually recording data.
Happy New Year to All
and A Happy New Millenium (to those with the appropriate counting system).
Elan Moritz (at the hibernating Institute for Memetic Research)
elan@omega23.com
===============================================================
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
===============================================================
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