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From:
Greg Smith
To:
Date:
Tue, 23 Apr 2002 07:59:51 -0700
Subject:
[idm] mememetics for breakfast
Msg-Id:
<B8EAC4F7.55AF%purgasmith@earthlink.net>
In-Reply-To:
<20020423122315.99832.qmail@web11105.mail.yahoo.com>
Mbox:
idm.0204.gz
on 4/23/02 5:23 AM, Lander at gamera_@yahoo.com scrawled:
quoted 6 lines what's meme? this is a new one on me...>> >> 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. More recently, Daniel Dennet wrote a decent treatise called "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". I wasn't going to post this because it seemed to OT, but then I looked at all the messages devoted to IDM listeners with double x chromosomes and how they are a separate species and then it seemed relevent. :P ~g -- Greg Smith http://www.laiad.com "There is no such thing as a perfectly accurate clock. The nearest you can get is one that has stopped. Although you never know when, it is absolutely accurate twice a day." - JG Ballard/Chronopolis --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org