Re: virus: Rationality

Alex Williams (thantos@decatl.alf.dec.com)
Fri, 28 Feb 1997 00:22:46 -0500 (EST)


> pardon my interuption, but I formed a very vivid image reading this, and
> well, my "memes" "want" "me" "to tell" "you" "about it".

Since I firmly believe that "you" are merely the emergent behavioural
complex arising from the interaction of your memesphere with its
environment, including the signs and portents of my last missive,
there's no /you/ seperable from the /your memes/ for "them" as a
seperate entity to "want" to do anything; the desire to do so is a
memetic trigger in the evocation of behaviour in your memesphere. :)

> Ok, here goes--two people are trying to interact, only each of them is
> inside a huge, squishy, thick plastic bag filled with an icky pink goo
> (nevermind how they breathe). Sort of like Nickelodeon meets ameobas with
> impermeable membranes.

Better yet, both of them are trapped in said `unopened wombs' and are
trying to make themselves understood to the other.

> Of course, this was most probably not what you meant--I almost skipped the
> entire second half of your paragraph because of the image. And if you
> think you agree, well, you're probably just mistranslating/decoding this as
> well. pfft. communication shmation.

That's actually not a bad image for it; thank you. If we were trapped
in unopened wombs, we might, given time and experience, eventually
develop a protocol whereby a certain rather gross movement /implied/
that I'm thinking about opening a vacule for feeding and another
scrunch of my membrane implies I'm looking to mate. You can only see
it dimly, however, and I can't always move as carefully or as properly
as I like, so misinterpretation is pretty rife. Still, the protocol
can be refined.

At no time do we actually transfer protoplasm. You observe my signs
and portents and interpret. I do likewise. Nothing is transmitted,
there is just intent and implication.