Re: virus: Kow?

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Mon, 31 May 1999 16:36:52 -0700

Richard wrote:

><<And what tools do you employ to separate the memetic wheat
>from the memetic chaff? (Remembering, of course, the close
>relationship between the wheat and chaff while its in the field.)>>
>
>The main tool: only take advice from people with lives you like.

The simplicity of that statement may be its strength, but it's also its weakness.

Not all memes are "advice", my friend. And although you may see the whole world through the lens of the personal growth leader and only concern yourself with memes about the living of ones life, not all are fitted with that same lens.

I would not like to copy the life of Van Gogh, but his brushstrokes and textures... now those are some really great memes worthy of replication!

But again, how would you make that kind of distinction--between the holder of wheaty memes and those simply stuffed with chaff--if you were to met a modern Van Gogh, say, down the street in a coffee shop, sans his oils? (And this is a serious question I'm asking here, BTW.)

-Prof. Tim