Sunday, March 05, 2006

already I can hear the coughing from the next room

Somewhere along the twisty path of thermodynamics, mind entered the cellular matrix. So they say, so they say. Okay. It has to be taken as given, since here we are, and before it seems that we were not, but nevertheless, I suppose, owing to the fact that we are here and we don't know where we came from, we can only boldly attack the next question. Given mind, whence language? Enter the concept of the dreaded Meme Virus.

Savvy observers please note: I am not an afficionado of Richard Dawkins nor the concept of the selfish gene. That's all static as far as I'm concerned. Social evolutionary theory is a dead end becuase the basis of evolution is not present in society as such. The meme as an evocotive symbol of an uncertain meaning is one I've appropriated for my own uses, with my own definitions.

What is a meme? Well, who knows. One can be quite certain that while it may represent something, it is not anything, and like the IQ or American Representative Democracy it is a useful concept that tends to be abused, but does not in fact represent anything real except in terms of its own circular definition. A meme is like a phrase, or a concept, or a word, or anything that evokes meaning or response. For my purposes, a meme is a unit of language that programs neurological software. The meme virus is akin to a computer virus, a bundle of =language= or =information= that slips into the mind by seeming trivial or inconsequential, but once integrated by the mind carries out functions of replication and restructuring.

klik if you demand tedious explanations of every little thing.

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