The image of meme-space as three dimensional and meme-sets as galaxies is
fabulous! It has two advantages I can see right off:
1) It allows us to separate the debates about "the smallest unit of a
meme" and such, from debates about "how memes-complexes interact" as
naturally as we separate ecology from cosmology.
2) The "gravitational properties" of meme implies a reason for consciously
moving memes into the unstable regions. By so doing one may be able to
use their gravitational influence to pull larger meme-complexes within the
system into new (more benifical) trajectories.
A great, great post, Reed. You've done it once again!
(But don't count on changing the name of "the Reed Principal".
"Translation" is the task commanded to the participants by the Reed
Principal, but the idea is easily 80 or 90 tims divergent from the
original Reed Principal and a new idea in its own right. Besides, you
know what a life of their own memes have once we set them loose on the
world :-)
-Prof. Tim