Re: virus: Sign memes & Chomsky

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Wed, 16 Apr 1997 09:57:16 -0700 (PDT)


On Wed, 16 Apr 1997, Tony Hindle wrote:

> Prof Tim wrote:
> >I have the feeling that while /access/ to information will expand, there
> >will also be a trend (that we are already seeing) toward specialization in
> >knowledge. A conflicting pull towards Guilds or Societies (or University
> >Depts) with an exponential greater, more in depth understanding of a
> >given field than the layman could hope to understand. We already have
> >this in many fields (Physics, Fine Arts), where the lag time between
> >discovery and public understanding can be years or even decades.
> Arn't specialist cultures the memetic equivalent of genetically
> isolated groups becoming specialists in thier particular environments?

Yes, exactly

> The specialist cultures allow memetic evolution to accelerate
> towards a model that explains in depth the specialists field. (well I
> reckon this is the case for science, for some of the arts its memetic
> evolution but no model explaining anything emerges).

Actually, in the arts a model is constantly emerging, but it's often so
self-referential it never makes any claims at being able to reach an in
depth understanding, only at making more progress on the the model itself.

-Prof. Tim