Why the rag on meme and this discussion list? I personally don't take the
Church of Virus that seriously, at least to consider it as a religion, I
hate religion, rather I'm more interested in the discussions, there is no
one in this group that's ruling on validity to my knowledge.
Regarding memes I prefer the word "meme" since it implies both memory and
gene, which is what it is meant to do. I don't quite see how concept
fulfills this criteria. They may indeed both be very similar or even the
same thing depending upon your definition, however, the "concept" of meme is
meant to help us think about seemingly abstract non-materialistic concepts,
ideas, and ultimately language, as material. It must be considered within
the context of cognitive science. It's always been the case that when new
theories emerge so also do terminologies, the question is do they work, do
they help elucidate and understand the theory. I would say that "meme" is
very useful in stimulating new thinking about ideas and language if nothing
else.
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Bill Godby
wgodby@tir.com