[ExI] You know what?

PJ Manney pjmanney at gmail.com
Fri Jan 25 17:03:46 UTC 2008


On Jan 24, 2008 7:35 PM, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:
> Damien wrote
>
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 9:39 PM
> > Lee wrote:
> >
> >> are people really so mindless that they can be
> >> taken over by a meme without any awareness?
> >
> > Well, blimey, Lee, that's how memes *work*.
>
> Sure, some memes work that way (some mannerisms
> for example), but most memes discussed generally
> (tunes, religous memes, clothing fashions, and so on)
> are quite consciously acquired.
>
> And I *do* think that picking up cute phrases falls into
> that category. I submit that people are entirely aware of
> their adoption of a new meme, in accordance with a
> mechanism that PJ describes quite succinctly in an
> upcoming email.

Just to be clear, I agree with Damien -- it's mostly unconscious.
Think mirror neurons.  We mimic all the time, unconsciously, to
empathize and adapt to group dynamics.

PJ



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