RE: virus: Re: The saga continues!

Wade T.Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Mon, 15 Sep 97 19:27:43 -0400


>>Do we have any experiments for memes yet? We have some definitions, but
>>there are definitions for ghosts too....(below)
>
>List,
>
>I am assuming that Wade means: What can we make them DO?

Not to sound too disingenuous (who, me?)- no, that is not what I meant at
all....

I really meant, 'Do we have any experiments to _find_ memes yet?'
Because- ain't they still a theory, undisproven or scientifically
validated? The fact that cultures are maintained and transplanted does
not a meme make. (Even if it is what we think they may _do_.) It is
_attractive_ to make up this thing called a meme, give it an operational
definition, and see if some patterns emerge, but has there been any
actual experimental considerations given to whether or not such a thing
actually _is_?

Yes, I really meant to compare memes with ghosts.

Am I stepping back too far here, or is most everyone else suspended
before the fall?

*****************
Wade T. Smith
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