Re: virus: Re: Rationality

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Fri, 14 Mar 1997 12:02:05 -0800 (PST)


Drakir,

You said you thought I was right and the colors of paint ananlogy
was beaking down. But, as usual, I think I was wrong about that. To be
sure I went back to my post about how I choose paints and replaced color
and paint metaphors with meme/idea metaphors and it fits my views on memes
quite well, as a matter of fact. As follows:

> .... I usually choose a [set of ideas] *before* I start [talking].
> Sure, sometimes something that is happening in the [conversation] (or
> while I'm [thinking]) will send me back to the Big Box o' [Memes],
> but by and large I make decisions about overall [memes] and tone from
> the get-go and work within those self-imposed limitations. Sometimes a
> [meme] will move me, possess me and make me want to explore it, in these
> cases it is that one [meme] that sets the tone for [my thinking] and as
> such influences the other [memes] I choose. Other times I have a mood
> or a feeling [or a concept] I want to convey and choose whatever [memes]
> will aid me in realization of that goal. Even if I personally have no
> love of the [memes] themselves.

I think the analogy holds up quite well, don't you? And yes, I do think
there are "meme schemes", memes that complement on another and others that
clash in hideous garish ways (but that can also be used to construct a
composition, as in art). So I guess this metaphor is still alive and
kickin'. For me at least.

-Prof. Tim