RE: virus: Existence and Ego

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Fri, 12 Sep 1997 11:38:42 -0700 (PDT)


On Thu, 11 Sep 1997, Brett Lane Robertson wrote:

> 3. What will be the unexpected cost of relegating yet another mental
> process to the realm of the meme[?]

As I see it there are elements that regulate the intake and application of
memes within the memetic vector's (human mind's) meme-set. These are /in
some way/ linked to the ego (*I* am using ego in a simple way here, to
mean the the internal narrator or the "I" that is a product of
consciousness). These "elements" (and I'm just calling them that because
I have yet to work out a clear understanding of their nature), these
elements, although they may be effected by /some/ memes (in much the
same way an OS may be effected by /some/ programs) are not themselves
memes, as I see it.

A more detailed rant on the topic is in the works (some of you have
already seen the first few pages) and hopefully it will shed some light
on the matter. (Or I may just be blowing smoke... I haven't gotten any
feedback on those first pages yet, so I may be way off the mark!)

Anyway, I hope to share the rant with all of you in the coming weeks as it
nears completion. Until then:

"If there is an imagined element that regulates the uptake and retention
of memes from the vector's environment, call it R(x), and another element
that oversees the application of retained memes within the vector's value
system, call that element V(x), we can then see that, despite being
submerged in the same environment, different memetic vectors with
different R(x) and V(x) values may manifest entirely different
personalities, beliefs, or meme-sets as a result of that same
environment."

-Prof. Tim