virus: Re: memes and spirits

Ken Pantheists (kenpan@portal.ca)
Mon, 31 Mar 1997 11:19:18 -0700


Reed wrote:

Cataloge of the differences between Spirits and Memes:
(not to be confused with "Why a cucumber is better than a man")

1) Spirits have "intentionality".
2) Memes can evolve via some kind of selection.
3) People can create, edit, and destroy memes.
4) Everyone can be possessed by the same meme at the same time.
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I could (just to be cheeky) post a reply where I retype your list and
entitle it "cataloge of the similarities between Spirits and Memes:

I totally understand why we can't and shouldn't think of memes as
spirits. It is like going back to a flat earth. But we can't deny the
similarities. Memetics is another way of dealing with the ideas of an
epoch. Pallus Athena-- was she a goddess, a spirit that posessed every
titled citizen of ancient Athens or was she a meme? And how is Liberty
(I mean the bronze woman that hangs out off the coast of Manhattan) any
different?

-- 
Regards
+--------------------------------------------------------+
  Ken Pantheists         http://www.lucifer.com/~kenpan 
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