RE: virus: Kow?

Richard Brodie (richard@brodietech.com)
Mon, 31 May 1999 17:14:32 -0700

Tim wrote:

[RB] >The main tool: only take advice from people with lives you like.

<<I would not like to copy the life of Van Gogh, but his brushstrokes and textures... now those are some really great memes worthy of replication!>>

If you like that aspect of his life, then modeling his technique would seem entirely appropriate. The great thing about Level 3 is that you can juggle different operating methods as appropriate. I wouldn't model his attitudes about women or family...

<<But again, how would you make that kind of distinction--between the holder of wheaty memes and those simply stuffed with chaff--if you were to met a modern Van Gogh, say, down the street in a coffee shop, sans his oils?
(And this is a serious question I'm asking here, BTW.)>>

As I understand your question, Tim, you're asking how I can be sure I'm not missing out on the opportunity to meet someone incredibly great because he has not yet done, or I am not yet aware of, incredibly great things that I wish to model. The answer lies with my purpose. When I am clear about my purpose, I find people appropriate to it. When I'm not, some other criterion
(usually short-term gratification) takes over and leads me off track.

Sometimes I am a teacher and sometimes I am a student. Generally, meeting anyone who wants to learn from me is on purpose. As for teachers, I studiously avoid ones with lives I do not admire.

Results speak. That is the only true test of memetic programming. All the rest is handwaving.

Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme" Free newsletter! http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm