Re: virus: Nursery Rhyme Memes

Joe E. Dees (jdees0@students.uwf.edu)
Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:45:47 -0500


From: "B. Lane Robertson" <metaphy@hotmail.com>
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: Re: virus: Nursery Rhyme Memes
Date sent: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 11:23:57 PDT
Send reply to: virus@lucifer.com

> Yes, musical "hooks" would also seem to be a good
> area for study. I note that the word "hook" is
> also used in the study of viruses (and I have
> taken to using it to mean the "emotional"
> component to a "stage two" meme which encourages
> infestation... though which, in my analysis is not
> actually a "meme", but might better be referred to
> as a "virus"). Further, I do not know that I
> would agree with the sentiment that such musical
> *patterns* are (being musical) *necessarily*
> devoid of "meaning" (or "symbolic ideational
> components", wasn't it?)
>
> So, I think that music is most properly an "idea"
> which has been split into parts whose
> re-arrangement can only refer back to that
> singular idea (no matter what musical form it
> takes). OR, I might say that a meme which is in a
> viral stage develops "musical" components
> (syncopation) which acts as a *hook* to spread the
> idea inherent in the meme. Or (at most), that
> music is a prime example of a virus (though would
> stop short of saying that it was a meme-- except
> to say that it is the <language> meme, itself, and
> so conveys the memetic intent of transmitting
> sound and rhythm such that ideas might be
> organized into A language [stopping short of
> saying that music is a *different* language]).
>
> Some food for thought.
>
>
> B. Lane Robertson
> Indiana, USA
> http://www.window.to/mindrec
> Bio: http://members.theglobe.com/bretthay
> See who's chatting about this topic:
> http://www.talkcity.com/chat.cgi?room=MindRec
>

Just as sounds can be located in a 3-D lattice comprised of
amplitude, frequency and timbre, sights can be located in a 3-D
lattice comprised of size, color and shape. Vision is, after all, a
single octave of wavelength, centered around green. This would
lead me to believe that if there are melodic viruses, there must be
eidetic image viruses as well. Joe
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