virus: Secret decoder ring (from: Level Four?)

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Mon, 3 Aug 1998 00:51:54 -0700


I've always known Brett's posts were actually beat poetry, but I just
couldn't put my finger on the meter until now. I think I've finally got it
though. Here goes:

_A Meme Proper is in a "Growth" Stage_
by B. Lane Roberts

(Okay everyone, gather yourselves for a moment... center...
hear the bongos in the background... picture those black turtlenecks...
feel the angst in the room... smell that heady aroma of espresso and
cloves... and now... begin!)

>*A meme proper is in a "growth" stage.

>It has an organization
>by which it attracts
>"nutrients" (or ideas)
>which fit its pattern
>and add to its stability--

>it is "truth seeking.
>Therein arises the argument
>that a level one memespace
>--or "carrier"?--
>is also a *meme*;

>that is,
>it is
>a *level one* meme
>(it is
>memetically organized
>but is
>NOT a "virus"
>and is
>not "infectious").
>Thus,
>a "level two"
>is
>a *virus*
>whose

>systematic split seeks a singular
>resolution in a new
>memetic host which organizes
>similar to the viral
>pattern presented

>by the meme
>so that the meme
>might evolve

>via the viral
>form toward an
>e-vo-lu-tion-ary
>superior pattern.
>Level four?

Right on, Daddy-O, right-on!

-Prof. "Skins" Tim