Re: virus: What makes memes compete?

Corey A. Cook (COOKCORE@esuvm.emporia.edu)
Thu, 10 Apr 97 17:13:58 CT


Dave Pape wrote:
>...but it brings me round again to asking about whether anyone would buy
>into the concept of people hosting multiple copies of memes, <SNIP>

Nooo, but you have given me the inertia to have another illumination.
Memes are going to be very difficult things to study, because they are
never stable. Even genes are fairly stable, inside a generation. But
from the moment that a meme is recieved, it is being processed by the
consious and unconsious minds. It is always changing, mutating, and
spawning new memes. The only time that a meme isn't changing is when
someone writes it down, and even then that isn't a meme it's just a
peice of paper with the directions for how to construct a meme. But
we can study those directions and thus, study memes. BTW, the strength
of a meme is dependant upon the number of times that it is introduced
into a memecology. (I tell you three times, it is true...) I'm sure
everyone is aware of this, but just in case, I'm pointing it out.

Corey A. Cook
cookcore@esuvm.emporia.edu

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