Re: virus: Re: virus-digest V1 #115

XYZ Customer Support (xyz@starlink.com)
Sun, 22 Dec 1996 01:21:13 -0700


>From: brandon stewart <rostewa2@vt.edu>

>>Prove that by infecting me with a meme that will be to your
>>benefit. Use one of the several principles that are pointed out
>>in articles about meme propagation and see if any of them can
>>ever possibly apply to me.

>Assume an attitude X, which is antagonistic to Y. Any replicators Yr,
>which fare well in Y, will probably not fare well in X. This is because
>X uses any exposure to Y, including Yr, to redefine X against being
>susceptable to these exposures. The more X is exposed to Yr, then, the
>more Xr will be better equipped at remaining X, which is defined to be
>~Y.

Here is a perfect example of what it means to think logically but not
scientifically. While the logic of this paragraph is impeccable, the
precepts are terrible. Just look at all the things that are implied
in this paragraph:

1. Memes have evolved to be antagonistic to other memes, implying
that memes can be "aware" of other memes (instead of just being plain
ol' detrimental or beneficial to each other).

2. Memes that are antagonistic to each other, can *only* serve to
enforce the other memes rather than weaken them. Hmmmmm! Kinda takes
away any meaning that "antagonistic" might really have.

3. This paragraph assumes that there are people who exist in this
email list that have absolutely no memes in common with anyone else's
in this email list. This is contrary to all the overwhelming evidence
that exists in the world about archetypes, commonality in symbols and
myths, and commonality in religions. Take for example the Mother
Archetype. Everyone in this list has it. Sure there are personal
differences to the archetype but there are some generic (hence
common) qualities to Her as well.

Since I am bound to have at least one meme in common with all of you
in this list, why don't we perform an experiment to see if anyone can
infect me with a meme that will be to their benefit. Let's see if any
of the principles we all believe about the propagation of memes will
work to any degree here or not.

>Perhaps this is why Christians insist on letting people "make their
>own" choice when choosing their faith.

You must be thinking of some other religion. It was the Christians
who first invented the high-pressure sales tactics in order to win
(read: force) converts. They called it evangelism and it was so
successful that it resulted in Christianity being called an official
religion of an empire in less than 300 years after it's inception.