Meagain
12-16-2008, 04:21 AM
It seems to me that there are different levels of memes. I found the following definition by Glenn Grant on the net and I'd like to break part of it down (I didn't include the whole definition):
"Meme (pron. meem): A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern."
This is the highest level, note that behavior must be altered by the meme.
Peter J. Vajk gives the example of the vanishing point perspective meme in two-dimensional art. The vanishing point technique was unknown before the 16th century and has been transmitted across national, language and time barriers so that anyone infected with this meme can "recognize" three dimensions in two-dimensional art.
Back to Glenn grant's definition:
"Individual slogans, catch-phrases, melodies, icons, inventions, and fashions are typical memes."
These, in my mind, are all second class memes as they may lead to behavior changes but do not introduce a revolutionary, or quantum behavioral change to an individual or society.
Now, I believe all I have seen so far in this forum are 2nd class memes; slogans, sayings, and such. Skip, I think, has been offering these "catch-phrases" of the "hippie" "movement" as an example of what the movement was or is about, but I don't think anyone has articulated the core values, or a statement of what the 1st class meme of the "movement" is. What behavioral changes does the "hippie" meme exhibit and are they all good, bad, or a combination of both?
The internet example was given, but it seems to me that the net is more of a tool meme than an idea meme. In other words, someone had the idea for a telephone (new communication meme) but it can not be realized without corresponding technology. The concept "telephone or internet" is the idea meme which will die without the technology to back it. So it is not a 1st class meme it is 2nd class, an invention.
"Meme (pron. meem): A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern."
This is the highest level, note that behavior must be altered by the meme.
Peter J. Vajk gives the example of the vanishing point perspective meme in two-dimensional art. The vanishing point technique was unknown before the 16th century and has been transmitted across national, language and time barriers so that anyone infected with this meme can "recognize" three dimensions in two-dimensional art.
Back to Glenn grant's definition:
"Individual slogans, catch-phrases, melodies, icons, inventions, and fashions are typical memes."
These, in my mind, are all second class memes as they may lead to behavior changes but do not introduce a revolutionary, or quantum behavioral change to an individual or society.
Now, I believe all I have seen so far in this forum are 2nd class memes; slogans, sayings, and such. Skip, I think, has been offering these "catch-phrases" of the "hippie" "movement" as an example of what the movement was or is about, but I don't think anyone has articulated the core values, or a statement of what the 1st class meme of the "movement" is. What behavioral changes does the "hippie" meme exhibit and are they all good, bad, or a combination of both?
The internet example was given, but it seems to me that the net is more of a tool meme than an idea meme. In other words, someone had the idea for a telephone (new communication meme) but it can not be realized without corresponding technology. The concept "telephone or internet" is the idea meme which will die without the technology to back it. So it is not a 1st class meme it is 2nd class, an invention.