Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!planchet.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: memes Message-ID: Date: 11 Jun 91 21:55:18 GMT Sender: nanotech@planchet.rutgers.edu Organization: NCI Supercomputer Facility, Frederick, MD Lines: 36 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu In article josh@cs.rutgers.edu writes: >I've gotten a couple of requests about what a "meme" is. ... >This of course leads to a lot more questions than answers; most >of these questions remain open. There is a lot of very interesting >work to be done. > >--JoSH JoSH, could you tell us what some of your questions are? I don't have a clue as to which direction you are thinking. Tom Schneider National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Mathematical Biology Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201 toms@ncifcrf.gov [(a) we don't even have a classification system for memes. Would the Dewey Decimal system work? or would that be like classifying animals by color? Is there some relatively limited number of memetic "hook" mechanisms? (b) Are there regularities in the propagation of memes that can be expressed as laws like Mendelian genetics? Are there any results in related fields such as information theory, computer science, economics, psychology, and of course biology that provide more than metaphorical guidance? (c) It would be a monumental task simply to try to particular memes making up any significant body of knowledge (or, as I like to put it for things like astrology, body of ignorance), much less all of them. (d) and for crissakes, let's invent a word to mean "memetic organism" or "meme complex"! --JoSH]