> For another example of what I'm on about, what exactly has memetics done
that
> is new? What predictions has it made, or what new concepts has it
generated?
> None, as far as I can tell.
For me, the most interesting predictions have to do with what kind of
cultural institutions we can see in the future. One conclusion you could
easily find yourself drawing after having read one or more of the most
popular books on memetics would be that self-replicating cultural
institutions are likely to (a) proliferate and (b) evolve away from their
designers' original intent, mutating toward replicative fitness.
Let me toss out a few that I think we'll be seeing a lot more of in the
near future: Multi-Level Marketing businesses, religions evangelizing on
the Internet and more on TV, religions disguising themselves in more
palatable form, corporate "training" that's more like brainwashing or
attitude-correctness.
As with genetic Darwinism, the main prediction is that the future will be
filled by the fittest replicators.
Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
Author, VIRUS OF THE MIND: The New Science of the Meme
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/votm.htm
Visit Meme Central: http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm