Re: virus: Re: parroting

Nathaniel Hall (natehall@WORLDNET.ATT.NET)
Fri, 21 Aug 1998 23:37:17 -0600


Wade T.Smith wrote:
>
> >If I were to ask what is 133467 + 488881 +484899
>
> Well, not to get overly pungent, but this small Radio Shack thingee I've
> got next to me right now can do that, and I'm more than willing to bet
> there ain't no meme anywhere in it, nor a meme required to push the
> buttons.

> Wade T. Smith

Interesting that you should mention a calculator. What if you
considered the machine as a very primitive mind? Then the memes could be
considered to be deliberately hard wired in. Viola! You got just the
thing your looking for! The exact place and time where a meme is being
processed. The next step up is a computer. It certainly does not have
the sophistication of human minds but if one considers it as a primitive
mind, then the programs which run on it, and the instruction set on its
central processing chip, could therefore be considered memes. (Remember
I define a meme as an idea that replicates in a mind. Therefore a
program does not necessarily have to try on its own to make copies of
itself, like a virus, for me to consider it a meme)
I believe in the attempt to duplicate intelligence on machines we will
learn more about how the mind works because we will come to realize what
you *must* have to make a mind work
Nate Hall