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capri0mniHmmm... I do not really understand what people mean by "Meme" when they speak of it here in the LJ community...
As I understand it, "meme" was a term created in the fields of anthropology, or in one of the related fields, to mean (Paraphrasing, here, I think) "A small, discrete unit of knowledge that can be passed from one generation to the next through immitation."
The alphabet song, to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is a meme. Remembering how to tighten a jar lid or screw with the phrase "Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty" is a meme. The idea that we season our food with salt and pepper is a meme. And so on.
It's a blending of the Greek word for "memory" and the word for "gene," because, like genes, memes are passed on from one generation to the next. They also (like genes) blend with memes from other families and cultures and mutate into new, stronger ideas -- or become weaker and die out. They can also spread like viruses, and "infect" you with an idea, that influences all the other ideas in your head, and can change the way you think about things.
I guess that's what it's come to mean in the online journal community, huh? An idea or way of thinking that you hope will spread to other journals.... ???? is that right??? If so, than even the meme of "meme" has 'mated' with the meme of blogging, and evolved.
hehehehehehe!!!
Anyway, there those who say that medical science has gone too far, preserving the life of those who would not otherwise survive, and perpetuating the spread of weak or bad genes through our species.
I am one of those people they are talking about. If there had been no incubator, or no penicillin, I would not have survived my first night. And so now, here I am, able to spread my weak and faulty genes througout our species (though the possibility of that is rapidly deminishing, as I cannot reproduce like an abeoba)...
Anyway, that's one argument... and it's one that led to the wide-spread eugenics movement in the early part of this century in the U.S. and Europe, and in modern day China.
But humanity needs strong memes to survive, too. Maybe we've even gotten to the point where memes are more important to our survival. Good genes can help give us strong bodies, and keep us from getting sick, and help us gather food for our families, and help our immediate friends survive. But the right string of memes might lead to a way to resolve wars more quickly and with greater justice, or find a cure for AIDS that works, and so on. And I think my family and I have pretty good memes (though I don't know what memes I have that could lead in those grand directions... but I suppose we never do).
And if you lock someone with weak genes away, and not guide them toward their full potential, because you see them as a waste of resources, then who can say what memes we're losing.
And even if I don't meet a partner with whom I can mesh my genes at a young enough age, maybe I could meet someone willing to adopt, and we could still pass on our memes (and bypass the mess of pregnancy to boot!).
However, there is one meme that should, like the spall-pox virus, be systemattically wiped out of our human culture... and that meme is: "The Customer is Always Right."...
Yesterday, I was having trouble getting into my lj, for some reason, so I decided to see if I could do it through![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gordon_r_d's journal, since I know I'm on his friends list (I think because when I click on "view journal," it pulls it up directly through IE, rather than through AOL), so I clicked on his friends page list, to see if I could get to my entry (and I'd also wanted to see if he'd replied to my latest reply)...
Anyway, I clicked on his friends page, and was treated to listing after listing from the community![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
customers_suck. ...Listing after listing of idiotic, rude behavior that rivalled gordon_r_d's "Little Shop of Horrors." Surely, I thought, all these people can't really be that stupid all the time, or we'd be seeing a lot more people trying to hop down the street with both of their legs shoved into one trouser leg, or trying to eat soup by pouring it into their ears....
And yet, the evidence is indisputable. Customers. Are. Idiots. And beyond that, customers are rude idots. Something happens to people when they walk through the door of an establishment, and go from being perfectly ordinary, reasonable people to being "A Custormer." And the only thing I can think of is that they're all infected with the meme "The customer is always right." They don't stop to think about what they're doing, what they're saying, or where they are, or how the person behind the counter is feeling, because the meme tells them they are Right, no matter what, so everyone else must be Wrong, so they don't have to think at all. They are the customer, after all, right?
The truth is nobody is always right, not even customers. We should always consider where we are, and what we're saying, and doing, and, most important, how the person we're with is feeling.
That's all.
As I understand it, "meme" was a term created in the fields of anthropology, or in one of the related fields, to mean (Paraphrasing, here, I think) "A small, discrete unit of knowledge that can be passed from one generation to the next through immitation."
The alphabet song, to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is a meme. Remembering how to tighten a jar lid or screw with the phrase "Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty" is a meme. The idea that we season our food with salt and pepper is a meme. And so on.
It's a blending of the Greek word for "memory" and the word for "gene," because, like genes, memes are passed on from one generation to the next. They also (like genes) blend with memes from other families and cultures and mutate into new, stronger ideas -- or become weaker and die out. They can also spread like viruses, and "infect" you with an idea, that influences all the other ideas in your head, and can change the way you think about things.
I guess that's what it's come to mean in the online journal community, huh? An idea or way of thinking that you hope will spread to other journals.... ???? is that right??? If so, than even the meme of "meme" has 'mated' with the meme of blogging, and evolved.
hehehehehehe!!!
Anyway, there those who say that medical science has gone too far, preserving the life of those who would not otherwise survive, and perpetuating the spread of weak or bad genes through our species.
I am one of those people they are talking about. If there had been no incubator, or no penicillin, I would not have survived my first night. And so now, here I am, able to spread my weak and faulty genes througout our species (though the possibility of that is rapidly deminishing, as I cannot reproduce like an abeoba)...
Anyway, that's one argument... and it's one that led to the wide-spread eugenics movement in the early part of this century in the U.S. and Europe, and in modern day China.
But humanity needs strong memes to survive, too. Maybe we've even gotten to the point where memes are more important to our survival. Good genes can help give us strong bodies, and keep us from getting sick, and help us gather food for our families, and help our immediate friends survive. But the right string of memes might lead to a way to resolve wars more quickly and with greater justice, or find a cure for AIDS that works, and so on. And I think my family and I have pretty good memes (though I don't know what memes I have that could lead in those grand directions... but I suppose we never do).
And if you lock someone with weak genes away, and not guide them toward their full potential, because you see them as a waste of resources, then who can say what memes we're losing.
And even if I don't meet a partner with whom I can mesh my genes at a young enough age, maybe I could meet someone willing to adopt, and we could still pass on our memes (and bypass the mess of pregnancy to boot!).
However, there is one meme that should, like the spall-pox virus, be systemattically wiped out of our human culture... and that meme is: "The Customer is Always Right."...
Yesterday, I was having trouble getting into my lj, for some reason, so I decided to see if I could do it through
gordon_r_d's journal, since I know I'm on his friends list (I think because when I click on "view journal," it pulls it up directly through IE, rather than through AOL), so I clicked on his friends page list, to see if I could get to my entry (and I'd also wanted to see if he'd replied to my latest reply)... Anyway, I clicked on his friends page, and was treated to listing after listing from the community
customers_suck. ...Listing after listing of idiotic, rude behavior that rivalled gordon_r_d's "Little Shop of Horrors." Surely, I thought, all these people can't really be that stupid all the time, or we'd be seeing a lot more people trying to hop down the street with both of their legs shoved into one trouser leg, or trying to eat soup by pouring it into their ears.... And yet, the evidence is indisputable. Customers. Are. Idiots. And beyond that, customers are rude idots. Something happens to people when they walk through the door of an establishment, and go from being perfectly ordinary, reasonable people to being "A Custormer." And the only thing I can think of is that they're all infected with the meme "The customer is always right." They don't stop to think about what they're doing, what they're saying, or where they are, or how the person behind the counter is feeling, because the meme tells them they are Right, no matter what, so everyone else must be Wrong, so they don't have to think at all. They are the customer, after all, right?
The truth is nobody is always right, not even customers. We should always consider where we are, and what we're saying, and doing, and, most important, how the person we're with is feeling.
That's all.
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-10 01:12 pm (UTC)heh
Date: 2003-07-10 01:31 pm (UTC)That could very well be...
I dunno... I've just seen the term used for things like that "Happy Deathday" quiz, where you put in your lj user name, and it comes back with a made up day and way for you to die...
That's not anything like the meme as anthropologists use it...
no subject
Date: 2003-07-10 02:35 pm (UTC)I just thought it was the old Al Jolson song "Meme"
Meme...how i love ya,how i love ya..my dear old Meme.......
what?....why is everyone looking at me funny?
:)