--- Greg Smith <purgasmith@earthlink.net> wrote:
quoted 21 lines on 4/23/02 5:23 AM, Lander at gamera_@yahoo.com scrawled:
> on 4/23/02 5:23 AM, Lander at gamera_@yahoo.com scrawled:
>
>
> >>
> >> what's meme? this is a new one on me...
> >
> > A meme is a pop culture idea that seems to spread of its own volition.
> > Calling it virulent is just redundant unless it's some kind of snow
> crash
> > reference...
>
> not to be a smart ass.. but it's much more than that. You make it sound
> like fad fuel. Basically it's the idea that ideas are subjected to
> Darwinism in the same way that various species are and that only the
> most
> fit survive. It's somewhat nihilistic in that if you extend it to it's
> logical conclusion that people are just vehicles for ideologies, 'hosts'
> if
> you will and it can even call free will into question. Read Richard
> Dawkins
> "The Selfish Gene" - it was the book that got things rolling.
I've read a couple of interviews with him, though I can't remember where.
Never read the book itself. But to be a smart-ass in return, how does it
follow from the thought that we are vehicles for ideas that we are JUST
vehicles for ideas? Just because we carry viruses around doesn't mean we
exist solely to serve the viruses. I mean, I suppose it might, but it's
not the only conclusion that can be drawn, or even the most apparent. I'm
not saying that memetics is incompatible with nihilism, just that nihilsm
isn't the necessary conclusion reached by an acceptance of memetics. You
know, being a smart-ass. One of my favorite hobbies!
And by the way, as far as the topic at hand goes... if you're going to let
bad pop music turn you to nihilism, there's MUCH worse than moby out
there. Try listening to Creed sometime. Nothing like a band of true
believers to reassure me that it's all meaningless...
Z
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