Meme War

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (doloras) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:10:34 GMT

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (ushas the rani) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 07:49:07 GMT

which came first, the yawn or the idea behind the yawn?

*gets her jacket*

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (War Arrow) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:13:38 GMT

I think a yawn is one of those things that nobody agrees on - it's not exactly copied but at the same time someone else yawning can set you off, and I feel like I might be setting off yawns right now. Anyway, I'm all memed out for the moment and am getting a bit self-conscious of having banged on and on at length, so I'm going to try the knowing silence approach to internet forums for a few days. Which will probably last until about 1.00PM Sunday but anyway...

It's...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (ushas the rani) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:49:21 GMT

doloras wrote:
I reject the idea that some ideas "self-replicate".

what is a yawn if not a self-replicating meme?

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (bthogg) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:23:15 GMT

Curufea wrote:

Flash crowds/mobs are a good example of something that can potentially be dangerous that's meme inspired. All you need is an organised crime to go with the mob.

I heartily recommend "Halting State" by Charles Stross, which uses this exact idea as a way of complicating its climax yet further ...

(Reading the meme stuff with interest but having little to...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (War Arrow) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:46:47 GMT

doloras wrote:
We seem to be throwing around the word "meme" a lot. As the Book of the War says, though, exactly why do we need a special name for a subset of ideas? All ideas can be replicated and passed along, and I reject the idea that some ideas "self-replicate".

Can you please explain what you mean by "the idea that some ideas self-replicate"? It implies that someone has...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (doloras) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 05:45:07 GMT

Actually, no - because I'm very politically active and we threw ourselves right after 9/11 into combatting Islamophobia, I'm much more likely to feel happy and comfortable around people of Middle-Eastern or Islamic appearance. I generally think Muslim women look pretty in their hijabs. It also helps that I have very sophisticated defences against mass media ideology.

On the other hand, I *do* often feel uncomfortable around people of Pacific Island descent, and that's...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (Curufea) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:18:51 GMT

Cultural paranoia is a good example of a viral meme that seizes unwilliing brains. Since the 9/11 thing - have you ever been slightly nervous around anyone of Middle Eastern appearance? On a bus or elsewhere?

Folk prone to bigotry or racism will tend to target this group more than any other group now as well.

It's subconscious and effects people according to their personalites.

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (doloras) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:04:26 GMT

We seem to be throwing around the word "meme" a lot. As the Book of the War says, though, exactly why do we need a special name for a subset of ideas? All ideas can be replicated and passed along, and I reject the idea that some ideas "self-replicate".

And certainly ideas can be a real force if they seize the masses, and can be used for positive and negative ends. I heartily approve of people using and learning politics, marketing, and the newer sciences such as...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (ushas the rani) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:37:43 GMT

*yawns*

I like memes, like Turkish Yoghurt Cures Warts or Yellow is the Colour of Relaxation

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (Curufea) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:14:26 GMT

doloras wrote:

Memes are not dangerous in and of themselves, as much as I'd like to believe that we could create word viruses that could wipe out my enemies, any more than the Devil or Krishna or Xenu or Hegel's Zeitgeist are dangerous. Non-material things never made anyone do anything - they just appear as a sensible solution in insane material conditions. If you want to neutralise George Bush or al-Qaeda, the...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (felice) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:06:57 GMT

There's no such thing as OT on the Younger World board! And this is a very interesting thread.

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (doloras) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:52:19 GMT

self-replicating ideas (memes) behave in an entirely viral manner.

I'm afraid that I don't agree. It seems superstitious to me because it ascribes an independent effect on the material world to non-material things. To paraphrase Charlton Heston: memes don't replicate, people replicate memes. And they do so because they make sense in a particular situation at a a particular time.

Let's put it this way - if I am in the same room as someone...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (War Arrow) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:02:05 GMT

Hmmm. Know where you're coming from, particularly about the fundamentalist atheist tendency - extremes create extremes and those wanting ANONYMOUS to go after one of the "big three" are, I would suggest, only interested in rationalism as a stick with which they can beat people over the head.
I think there's a subtle distinction to be made here between what Dawkins has said and what has been generally understood, and I don't think he has actually said that religion...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (doloras) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:31:04 GMT

Hey, it's alright to mention Scientology, as long as you attached the appropriate Googlebombing link.

Good to hear that the Dawkins crowd are getting into it - that's not the impression I got from the various blogs, where all the hard-core atheists were saying that Scientology was no different from Christianity or Islam and we should destroy those first because...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (War Arrow) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:36:59 GMT

doloras wrote:
Those who care about Wikipedia might want to go and prevent the article on Project Chanology being deleted.

Here's where I reveal myself as an internet dummy. Said page is listed as semi-protected. Er... is that good?
The blurb states it can only be edited by registered users, but looking at the semi-protected pages list I gather this might be one they're likely to keep their eye on due...

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (doloras) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:06:43 GMT

I'm reliably informed by Anonymous sources that it's the voice of Microsoft Sam.

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (Curufea) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:32:17 GMT

BTW - Is it just me, or does the synthetic voice on Warren Ellis' blog (the second video in the original blog link) sounds disturbingly like the Apperture Science computer from Portal? Which isn't really a synthetic voice - but a human pretending to be synthetic, and then modulated/filtered.

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (doloras) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:57:20 GMT

Pix from a hilarious InRealLife raid on an unnamed Clam HQ

Re: Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (doloras) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:56:27 GMT

Anonymous speaks in the deliberately offensive dialect of 4Chan, where everyone is some kind of "fag" or another. I would say "especially the girls", but a rule of 4Chan is that there are no girls on the internet. Here's a "defagged" version of that poster.

Those who care about Wikipedia might want to go and prevent the article on Project Chanology...

Meme War

feeds@yuku.com (War Arrow) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:23:52 GMT

Check it out and spread the word:
http://matociquala.livejournal.com/1308186.html