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Robert Finkelstein: What is a Meme? A Functional Definition

Robert Finkelstein, president of Robotic Technology, Inc., tries to define a meme at this year’s Semiotic Circle’s symposium on memetics.

The basic problem right now is to determine whether memetics can be established on a scientific basis.

I want to make sure it’s not just the equivalent of astrology or phrenology.

The bottom line is to make testable predictions and falsifiable hypotheses.

The Toronto Semiotic Circle organized a symposium on “Memory, Social Networks, and Language: Probing the Meme Hypothesis II” held at Victoria College (University of Toronto), Northrop Frye Hall, on May 15-17, 2008.

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  • mrdomino
    Parts of this talk strike me as dubious -- for instance, when he suggests searching for brain-wave signatures distinctive to memes as opposed to "non-memes"... this is sort of missing the point. However, he's a very smart guy, and he had a lot of really good things to say on how to get memetics to be taken seriously. If nothing else, this is a good perspective on what the people with money to give for research are looking for in memetics.
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