> I was always under the impression, though, that this wasn't the point of
> meme theory - although I'll be upfront in pointing out that I haven't read
> any of it, nor do I really see the point. But I thought the virus analogy
> wasn't about the "staying power" of an idea, but the manner in which ideas,
> themes, etc. are propogated.
Memetics involves both characterists of viruses. They spread rapidly,
and they're a pain in the butt to get rid of. Memes can't be eradicated
easily, because the idea in question becomes part of its hosts mind, a
part of what makes up said host's mind. It's kinda neat when you think
about it.
> As far as I'm concerned, I think Greg nailed it when he pointed out that
> it's downright impossible to empirically prove the validity of meme theory.
It can be proven, so long as you use your observations as proof. It's
actually petty logical when you think about it. You don't need any
special view of what passes for Deep Reality to discuss memetics, only to
draw some fundamental comparasons between viruses and ideas. I guess
this kind of logic wouldn't be proof, though. Point taken.
> It's fairly easy to pluck, say, a bird out of its natural habitat, drop it
> on an island somewhere, and observe how it might evolve. And isn't this
> notion of evolution key to memetics, i.e. that ideas evolve in order to
> survive? But this doesn't translate so well to memes: how does one isolate
> an idea from its surrounding cultural complex to show how it reacts to its
> environment?
The easiest way to do that would to be to create a new meme, and release
it to different groups of people. Take, for example, oh, I don't know,
an arrest. Dig up an obscure fact or two about the case, and tell two
different groups of friends about it, groups that don't ordinarily have
contact with each other. net.friends and Flipside friends a good
example. Office buddies and car-enthusiast buddies are another. Anyway,
tell them said facts in exactly the same way. Looking at it, you'd have
to throw an opinion or two of your own into the little sucker. Watch
both groups of friends, and see how they react. Observe their
discussions about what you've told them. At the end of, say, a day,
compare what you've seen.
> And besides, even assuming that the theories of memetics can be verified, so
> what? (And I'm not being entirely cheeky here, I'd really like to hear what
> the value of the meme is)
It's a cool social theory. More to the point, memetics is a study of how
the human mind treats information. How it's processed, how it's stored
(humour, debate material, just something else that's weird, etc), and how
it's spread. Memes act just like we do: They evolve, spread, and touch
other people is fiendishly subtle ways.
Bryce Lynch
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doctor who - del | finger for lousy reason for name/addr. conflict
"Something in the air/treat me like a child/you can lead me on..all night.."
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