Re: virus: One More Time, From the Top...

Nathan Russell (frussell@frontiernet.net)
Fri, 14 Aug 1998 10:34:12 -0400


Tim Rhodes wrote:

> Nate and Sodom write:
>
> >> It seems that a meme - in transit (on paper, e-mail, some type of
> non-thinking
> >> host) would be similar to the DNA that is not in use, or DNA fragments
> without the
> >> tools to assemble the fragments until in the mind. Just a thought.
> >>
> >> Bill Roh
> >>
> >
> >Or like an RNA virus - it's in a completely different format.
>
> ARRRRRGH!!!
>
> Are you aware that by using the only model you know of for how a replicator
> might work (DNA) and applying it to a different sphere (information and
> ideas), you are doing the same thing that the Greeks did when they applied
> the only model they knew for motion (intelligent intentionality) to the
> movements of the planets?
>

There are other moels, cmputer viruuses being an obvious exmaple.

> -Prof. Tim,
> off to find the meme for the God of War in the night sky.
>
> >
> >> Nathaniel Hall wrote:
> >>
> >> > Richard Brodie wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > Memes are replicators in minds. The term "replicator" is used to
> denote any
> >> > > information that participates in evolution by natural selection.
> These
> >> > > definitions are widely accepted in the field, so it doesn't help much
> to
> >> > > propose new definitions for existing terms.
> >> > >
> >> > > Richard Brodie
> >> >
> >> > I can almost live with that, but what about information that resides in
> >> > a computer or book? Does that information then become a potential meme
> >> > until it is replicated into a mind? If the answer to that is yes than I
> >> > think that's a decent definition.
> >> >
> >> > Nate Hall
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >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)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >