> Then again, all the True Level-3 minds are surely living in small huts
> on the plateaus of Tibet, and are totally unconcerned with the whole
> concept of "memetics" in the first place.
I used to listen to an English band called Level-42 who had a mean
(meme?) bass player. From their name you just know they must have
believed every meme was true. I pity the poor fools who have achieved
only (say) Level-39.
>> At 09:04 PM 15/10/96, Reed Konsler wrote:
>> At this time memetics is a theory which has yet to be corroborated by
>> the neurobiological tests which might disprove it.
> Can't wait.
Seriously though, I doubt very much that neurobiology would have an
impact on Meme Theory simply because we're talking about a concept which
can only be explained by behavioral patterns. To illustrate : what can
we learn about Beethoven by examining the "Immortal Beloved" compact
disc under a microscope? Those stories that "Time" magazine likes to
print about blood rushing to the front of our brains while we're
sweating out a math exam under the deceptive titles like "Scientists
Find Consciousness in the Brain" *always* end with something like "of
course they're a long way from proving anything". While I sleep better
knowing that blood rushes to the back of women's brains (as oppose to
the front-left-top quadrant for men) during this activity I fail to see
the use of these reports.
However what I do find useful is tracking the external consequences of
elusive internal memes : the flow of religion historically and
geographically, the rise and fall of communism, the rise and fall of
racism etc. If we apply Meme Theory to these phenomena and we can
reasonably predict something useful like "The Effect of the Internet on
Worldwide Religion - would religion spread or recess" then the theory
would be validated.
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* Hakeeb A. Nandalal *
* nanco@trinidad.net *
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