Ars Electronica 96
MEMESIS - THE FUTURE OF EVOLUTION

"Memes describe cultural units of information, cognitive
behavioral patterns that propagate and replicate themselves through
communication …the discussion is intended to probe specific segments of
the techno-cultural revolution against the background of the idea of a
"culturally based history of creation". -Gerfried Stocker

"In introducing memes into the discussion of recent developments in Cyberspace,
a less than rigorous use is made of the relevant concepts. I read the
prospect as an exercise in stretching one's phantasy, risking some
interesting and possibly irritating conceptual displacements in the
process." -Herbert Hrachovec

"If memes 'replicate themselves', what are humans doing in the meantime?
We're not the blind objects of genes or memes. Rather, whether using language
or global networks, humans transform themselves and nature through our own activity.
We are the subject of history - even if it is not always in circumstances of
our own choosing …" -Richard Barbrook

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Is the metapher of "Memes" a workable concept for artists and scienctists or
just another neo-darwinist ideology which promotes a cynical notion of the
survival of the fittest?

Participants of the Panel are: Robert Adrian X, Sadie Plant, Richard
Barbrook, Mark Dery, Sandy Stone, VNS Matrix, Herbert Hrachovec, Francis
Heylighen, Derrick de Kerckhove, Karin Spaink, Paul Garin, Perry Hoberman,
Tom Sherman, Konrad Becker, Heimo Ranzenbacher. The discussion is
moderated by Geert Lovink.