4 ms·
What does "useful" mean? Survival and propagation are strong indicators.
by plonh 11y ago
What does "useful" mean? Survival and propagation are strong indicators.
- brrt 11y agoGP means useful to the 'host' of the meme, that is, to you or me, while the survival and propagation refer to the meme itself. For example, a particular catchy tune might be very successful (very popular i.e. high survival and propagation) but it isn't necessarily useful (to me).
- mikeash 11y agoFor more extreme examples, consider Nazism or malaria.
- Natsu 11y agoNeither of those are widespread in any population. Quite the opposite, they flare up and then vanish.
- mikeash 11y agoFair enough with Nazism. How about war instead? Malaria seems to persist quite well, and doesn't vanish.
- Natsu 11y agoWhen I say "widespread" I'm thinking of being relatively constant for centuries. The sad thing is that war probably is adaptive on some horrific level. I'd trouble naming a country that hasn't survived a war in its past and which has been around for at least a couple centuries.
- mikeash 11y agoWar is one of those things that's absolutely a survival advantage if everyone else does it but which is nothing but destructive compared to a hypothetical world where nobody does it. Thus we all get pushed into it, even though it's a massive net negative. Which is incidentally like a lot of other destructive ideas and traditions.
- Natsu 11y agoIt's more of a prisoner's dilemma. It's great as long as nobody else starts one.