For more on memes see the following:
Meme: Definition
But do we have to go to distant worlds to find other kinds of
replicator
and other, consequent, kinds of evolution? I think that a new kind of
replicator has recently emerged on this every planet. It is still in
its
infancy, still drifting clumsily about in its primeval soup, but
already
it is achieving evolutionary chang at a rate that leaves the old gene
panting far behind.
The new soup is the soup of human culture. We need a name for the new
replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural
transmission, or a unit of imitation. 'Mimeme' comes from a suitable
Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like 'gene.' I
hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to
meme. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of
as
being related to 'memory,' or to the French word m�me. It should be
pronounced to rhyme with 'cream.'
Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions,
ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propogate
themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or
eggs, so memes propogate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from
brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called
imitation. If a scientist hears or reads about a good idea, he passes
it
on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and
his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate
itself, spreading from brain to brain.
(Dawkins )
And this site on "Thought Contagion Theory":
http://www.mcs.net/~aaron/thoughtcontagion.html
Cheers,
Bob
Ed Weick wrote:
> >From Cordell commenting on a posting by Brad McC....
> >
> > This is really at the heart of many issues. What if they had a war and no
> > one showed up. Stopping the virus of competition, or fashion, or one more
> > iteration of this or that product line is only stopped by people somehow
> > finding something else to do with their lives. It is very difficult to do
> > since as Brad shows even by showing up and saying " I really don't believe
> > in this.....", the virus continues.
> >
>
> Arthur refers to the "virus" of competition. More probably, what he is
> actually referring to is a "meme". Like viruses, memes use people as hosts
> but work through infesting, reshaping and controlling the mind. They are
> essentially concerned about their own survival; that is, they use us in an
> evolutionary competition with each other, with dominant memes winning out
> and displacing more submissive ones. In medieval times, they used religion
> to propagate themselves by having us believe that God is great and good and
> in favour of the established order, or the crusades or whatever, no matter
> how brutal. More recently, for a time, they used ideologies such as
> communism and fascism and, again, no matter how brutal. Now they are using
> capitalism and neo-liberalism, although they are encountering strong
> opposition from anti-capitalist and anti-globalist memes. When they are
> done with us, they will likely move onto some other species, perhaps rats.
>
> So, Arthur, "virus" is not correct. It's "meme". And in case you think I'm
> making this up, memes were first proposed by no less eminent a scientist
> than Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist who teaches at Oxford.
>
> Ed W.
--
http://publish.uwo.ca/~mcdaniel/
