(July 13, 2010 at 2:20 pm)Cecco Wrote: in your mind, how does the word 'meme' differ from 'idea'? not at all it seems.
also, if anybody was going around saying 'all swans are white' then they were ignorant. using accurate scientific language you should say before the discovery of black swans 'all swans that i have encountered so far have been white'.
Maybe we should have said that. But this example calls into question how much we can infer things from our everyday experience. Can we, for instance, assume that gravity operates throughout all of the universe? Can we assume that the laws of nature will be the same tomorrow as they are today?
As for memes, I'd say the concept is probably falsifiable in theory. We could spread idea x which would be popular, and idea y, which would be unpopular, and see how widely they are spread. Numerous examples seem to exist of this happening, as people have pointed out. Therefore, it would seem to be scientific.
'We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.' H.L. Mencken
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
