When I posted my retraction last night, I had not read Greg Burch's comments.
I wrote
> Extropy.com, for example, is in debt. There is no money to be made in
> propagating memes. That's the wrong business to be in.
To which Greg replied
> Tell that to Ted Turner, Pablo Picasso, Oscar de la Renta, James Cameron
> or Oprah Winfrey.
Well, I called all those people and told them that. Most of them didn't
know what I was talking about. I had to explain what a meme is. Oprah
said "I'm an entertainer. I wouldn't be where I am today if I talked
about memes. My career would never have gotten past square one." Picasso
said "I'm an artist. I don't give a damn about memes. I just paint what
I see." Ted Turner did know what a meme was, but he said "I'm a
businessman, first of all. I want money, power, fame, and beautiful women.
I do have an agenda, of course, and being in my position I can push
certain ideas and not others, but that's not what my career is about. The
idea that somebody would devote his life to propagating memes _as such_ is
bizarre. It reminds me of those cartoons about 'people who don't get the
concept.' Memes can take care of themselves. Get a life."
Greg continued,
Well, per se is the problem. If somebody wants to make money, it is
rational for him to promote the idea that wealth is a good thing
In today's economy, there are so many opportunities I have
Lyle:
Greg:
As everyone knows by now, I go back and forth on the question
> No one expects to get rich propagating transhuman ideas or extropian
values,
> per se.
> We are entering the age of memetic competition. What kind of meme can
> create a phenotype around itself that has the strength to survive and
> become immortal? An ism? A corporation? or some new kind of meme?
> I would answer your question by saying "All of the above."
> How would you answer it?