Re: virus: Rationality

Alexander Williams (thantos@alf.dec.com)
Fri, 28 Feb 1997 17:38:51 -0500


Tim Rhodes wrote:
> So are you saying something to the effect of: "These grunting and
> clicking noises humans make are a means by which they cause /similar/
> ideas to their own to be constructed in the minds of other humans. The
> more building blocks they share the easier it is for one to invoke the
> creation of a similar structure in the others mind." And if that *is*
> what your saying (might presumptuous ain't I?) aren't memes the "grunting
> and clicking noises" in whatever format?

There seems to be a common tendency to confuse the medium with the
message when discussions like this come up.

These grunting and clicking noises, or teeth-baring and snorting
gestures, or whatnot, take advantage of meme structures that have
developed by common environmental factors and learned common referants
to give a `good enough' match between the memes spawned in the mind of
the observer and the intended memes to be spawned by the actor. Memes
are the cause and the eventual product, but are no more the media than
M&Ms are the media between the cocoa fields and the factory floor.

-- 
   Alexander Williams{thantos@alf.dec.com/zander@photobooks.com}
The  Mekton  is a  powerful tool,  both  physically and emotionally.
There is something that  happens to an  enemy when he sees his  home
and family stepped on by a hundred ton metal man.    -- Arkon Verian
====================================================================
Of  all the weapons of the  Empire, the  greatest and most respected
were the Metal Knights.  These Knights had served the leaders of the
Bendar for Generations,   righting wrongs and  bringing  fear to the
Empire's Enemies.  It is  said that these  metal giants were  shaped
like men so  that the alien servants of  Evil would know that it was
Man who defeated them.
                               -- Scribings from the Murian Archives