Re: virus: Dangerous memes!

Nathan Russell (frussell@frontiernet.net)
Thu, 13 Aug 1998 13:18:53 -0400


Nathaniel Hall wrote:

> Gifford, Nathan F wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > A meme:
> > 1) Evolves through mutation and selection.
> >
> > corollary: Memes have a mechanism for infection & reproduction.
> >
> > 2) Maybe someone could refine this idea for me but: A meme has a
> > cost for its host. The benefits of hosting the meme may outweigh the cost
> > ... as in the case of say being a priest where hosting the Xtian meme pretty
> > much proscribes your life but also supplies your livelihood. Thus, being a
> > musician is not a memetic choice ... but choosing to play one type of music
> > over another ... more lucrative type ... is.
>
> The "meme" does not care about its cost. If it is too costly is simply
> ceases to exist because it kills all its hosts! (However it could just
> sit around in a book somewhere as a potential meme waiting to infect
> some unsuspecting host like the alien eggs in the movie Alien! )
> Nate H.
> (my candidate for deadly meme group: marxism)

David Korishism? Jonestownism? The crusades?

--
Nathan Russell
frussell@frontiernet.net

"It is now time for the human race to enter the Solar System" -Dan Quayle on the possibility of a manned mission to Mars

(Well, Danny Boy, the rest of us are already here, but we'll wait for you)