abstracts - J. of Ideas, Vol 2 #1

[Elan Moritz]

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     Abstracts of papers appearing in
     Volume 2 # 1  of the Journal of Ideas



     THOUGHT CONTAGION AS ABSTRACT EVOLUTION


     Aaron Lynch


     Abstract: Memory  abstractions, or  mnemons,   form  the basis  of  a
     memetic evolution  theory  where generalized  self-replicating  ideas
     give  rise  to  thought  contagion.  A  framework  is  presented  for
     describing mnemon propagation,  combination, and  competition. It  is
     observed that the transition from individual level considerations  to
     population  level  considerations  can   act  to  cancel   individual
     variations and  may result  in  population behaviors.  Equations  for
     population  memetics  are   presented  for  the   case  of   two-idea
     interactions. It is argued that creativity via innovation of ideas is
     a  population   phenomena.   Keywords:   mnemon,   meme,   evolution,
     replication, idea, psychology, equation.

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     CULTURE AS A SEMANTIC FRACTAL:
     Sociobiology and Thick Description


     Charles J. Lumsden


     Department of Medicine, University of Toronto
     Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8


     Abstract: This report considers the problem of modeling culture as  a
     thick symbolic  system:    a  system  of  reference  and  association
     possessing multiple levels of meaning and interpretation.  I  suggest
     that thickness,  in the  sense intended  by symbolic  anthropologists
     like Geertz, can be treated  mathematically by bringing together  two
     lines of formal development, that  of semantic networks, and that  of
     fractal mathematics.    The  resulting semantic  fractals offer  many
     advantages for modeling  human culture.   The properties of  semantic
     fractals as a class are described, and their role within sociobiology
     and symbolic anthropology considered.  Provisional empirical evidence
     for the hypothesis of a semantic fractal organization for culture  is
     discussed, together with  the prospects  for further  testing of  the
     fractal hypothesis.  Keywords:  culture,  culturgen,  meme,  fractal,
     semantic network.


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     MODELING THE DISTRIBUTION OF  A "MEME" IN  A SIMPLE AGE  DISTRIBUTION
     POPULATION: I. A KINETICS APPROACH AND SOME ALTERNATIVE MODELS


     Matthew Witten


     Center for High Performance Computing
     University of Texas System, Austin, TX 78758-4497


     Abstract. Although there is a  growing historical body of  literature
     relating to  the  mathematical  modeling  of  social  and  historical
     processes, little effort has been placed upon modeling the spread  of
     an idea element "meme" in such a population.  In this paper we review
     some of  the  literature  and  we then  consider  a  simple  kinetics
     approach, drawn  from  demography, to  model  the distribution  of  a
     hypothetical "meme" in  a population  consisting of  three major  age
     groups.    KEYWORDS:     Meme,   idea,  age-structure,   compartment,
     sociobiology, kinetics model.


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     THE PRINCIPIA CYBERNETICA PROJECT


     Francis Heylighen, Cliff Joslyn, and Valentin Turchin



     The Principia Cybernetica Project[dagger]


     Abstract: This  note  describes an  effort  underway by  a  group  of
     researchers to build a complete and consistent system of  philosophy.
     The system  will address,  issues of  general philosophical  concern,
     including epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, or the supreme human
     values. The  aim  of  the  project  is  to  move  towards  conceptual
     unification of  the  relatively  fragmented  fields  of  Systems  and
     Cybernetics  through  consensually-based  philosophical  development.
     Keywords:  cybernetics,   culture,  evolution,   system   transition,
     networks, hypermedia, ethics, epistemology.


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     Brain and Mind: The Ultimate Grand Challenge


     Elan Moritz


     The Institute for Memetic Research
     P. O. Box 16327, Panama City, Florida 32406


     Abstract: Questions about the nature of brain and mind are raised. It
     is argued that  the fundamental  understanding of  the functions  and
     operation of the brain and its relationship to mind must be  regarded
     as the Ultimate Grand Challenge problem of science. National research
     initiatives such as the Decade of the Brain are discussed.  Keywords:
     brain,  mind,   awareness,   consciousness,   computers,   artificial
     intelligence,  meme,  evolution,  mental  health,  virtual   reality,
     cyberspace, supercomputers.



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     The Journal  of Ides  an archival  forum  for discussion  of  1)
     evolution and  spread  of ideas,  2)  the creative  process,  and  3)
     biological   and   electronic   implementations   of   idea/knowledge
     generation and processing.



     The Journal of Ideas, ISSN  1049-6335, is published quarterly by  the
     Institute for Memetic  Research, Inc.  P. O. Box  16327, Panama  City
     Florida 32406-1327.


     >----------- FOR MORE INFORMATION ------->

     E-mail requests to Elan Moritz, Editor, at moritz at well.sf.ca.us.


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