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ANNOTATION:
Memes could be considered capable of reproducing
Memes are usually considered as akin to genes and therefore
limited in their method(s) of propagation. What if memes were
like semi-sentient creatures (or plants) and were capable of
reproducing themselves at a more sophisticated level than the
genes which Richard Dawkins based them on? Thus memes might be
capable of having offspring which would be radically different
from the 'parent' meme.I realise that this is an extension
(perhaps an overextension) of the meme concept but as (what
Ted Nelson and co describe as bivisible and bifollowable)linked
texts (and therefore newly interlinked memes) begin to
proliferate thus the idea of one way infection might begin to
seem rather inadequate.Memes might begin to exhibit ever-more
complex relationships such as memebirth where the tension between
two separate memes in a particular part of the ideosphere
resolves itself (or is resolved-- remember there are conscious
self-willed meme engineers and memeticists out there) in
the birth of a new meme which doesn't necessarily share all the
characteristics of its parents but which is strong enough and
distinct enough to survive in competition with them.Meme
complexes are already accorded enough cogency and rationality to
wage war hence the cold war between the marxist-leninist and
liberal democratic meme complexes which was not a war of total
memetic destruction.In conclusion (at last!) I believe that the
conception of memes as infectious cultural viruses needs to be
extended and revamped to deal with the somoewhat more predatory
nature of modern-day memes like the world wide web.
Copyright© 1995 Principia Cybernetica -
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