> And is it absolutely necessary that we agree on a definition of
> "truth" to do so?!?
...heck no. A meme doesn't HAVE to be true, it just has to be contagious. I figure we could go about this one of two ways [there may be options I've missed, feel free to add 'em]
[1] We could focus on the propragation of the actual Church of Virus as an entity and forum. This would have as its merits the potential addition of people to our little clan and the expansion of our potential resources. The drawbacks as I see them are that in any situation where the forum is as volatile in its aims and purposes as this one, open access is a potential threat. I like that people coming here have - to some extent - to look for it. I also think that there's some danger in propagating these ideas without a firm understanding of their implications - to hack away at an old saw:
To a myn with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. To a myn with a virus, everything looks like a meme.
[2]If we want to attain some viability as memetic engineers, we should engineer and propagate a meme which is consistent with the viral ideology [to the extent that a group of analytic skeptics can be said to have an ideology] but does not itself refer directly to its origins. Is there a thought/concept/idea that we can agree to package and disseminate as a group? If so, what is it and how should it be designed? Should each individual virian be responsible for its dissemination in whatever fora to which they have access to? Should there be commonalities in its preparation and construction? Should we collectively design a [package] and work on collectively distributing it?
...we've got a theory about idea propagation, lets see if it works.
...has anyone here but me read the history of the "smart-drink" meme? I can do some poking through my notes and provide references to possible sources if people are interested - but it was deliberately done. Douglas Rushkoff looks at it in his book "Media Virus: Hidden agendas in the popular media" and also in the "Generation X reader". Other sources abound.
-psypher