virus: I need an analogy...

Jim Gadbois (jim@cyberintl.com)
Wed, 19 Mar 1997 17:02:00 -0600


ok, we are talking about memes. Memes are comparable to genes in a
person's body.
and the memes in a person's mind make up a meta- system, analogous to an
ecology (which is kinda like a belief system/ religion). The thought
environment ( A Society's ThoughtSet...) is like the Biosphere....

Am I with you so far, people?

another big idea in the mailing list is the idea of meme propagation...
Infection, spontaneous production, maybe even good old fashioned
budding.

what I would like to see, is an analogy in the field of "thought
reproduction" (is there a better term for this?) to the recent
innovation of science: CLONING!

Maybe a "cloned meme" could be the technological spread of idea (sorry,
Meme...),replication without a "real" carrier- through television, junk
mail, autoredialing telemarketeers, etc.....

I'd love some input on this, and on weather I have a clue as to what you
Philosophers are talking about!