Well, I'm not putting my head in a freezer. I've already been called a friggin' idiot for not being a good cook!

Very interesting.

It does make you want to attempt to start a fad to see what happens.

Your banner is making me hungry.

Who did that? No...no, I just think they took your power away.

Viral marketing. Like what we did with Prof Loo's post.

Yep...!! It's amazing to watch the numbers. Are we the new Mad Men?

Not sure.

I've never liked the toilet paper triangle fold.

Wow... to Blackmore's talk. Do you think the fridges are controlling us now?

I think our lives are becoming performance art projects.

I just got back in after a long evening out. I'm leaving this page open so I can process and learn this in the morning. Ehna anda mala baya. (meaning me. not you. I'm rusty) Kah tah lah veh nees (?)

Great topic. Rated for freaky mind control.

It's like being the first person to cross the street even though the light is red ad the hand of death is warning you to stay on the curb. Suddenly you're the leader and everyone behind you follows along. You become the Meme.

Cartouche, trying to figure out if it is anglicized Arabic or Greek...!!
KrisL I think this just started...lets see where the waves of mimicry take it.

Monkey see - Monkey do on an international scale; fed by social technologies.

Awesome.

Jon,
There is a poll going on to see when this will get into the TV and regular papers. It started two weeks ago.

It's like she says, it reproduces itself.

Rated and bookmarked for when I have more time. It sounds fascinating!

Look ma, no hands!

This is, I believe, part of the brilliance of Open Salon - we're all at some level sending out progressive memes to take over the culture. It's also behind the concept of "viral marketing," a little more scary.

Ok, yes, the freezer thing is just darn silly... (Although it did provide a few giggles and one guffaw.)

I listened to this with one ear while doing something else, so missed the whole head in the freezer part, apparently!

Silk, you have to click on the flickr, link. The freezer thing is an example of a meme.

So, if we are biologically hired wired to mimic, why are we also driven by a desire to be original and unique?

Mind-bendy post! Nice description, ‘they happen just to happen’ – just like life. I’ve loved the TED site for about a year now, ever since I stumbed on Brian Cox’s talk on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Thanks for the forward of the Blackmore video – and the reminder to catch up w/the TED site.

Just bloody fascinating, Stellaa. The head in the freezer meme is really the same as the toilet paper one. Mindless mimicry for personal aggrandizement. "I can do it too, better, funnier, look at me, look at me, look at me!"

I'm wondering how this fits with Rob's equally fascinating post on the specific backchannels used for communication in language.

Btw, just curious, is her pronunciation of meme British? I've always heard it spoken as the French word it comes from, which rhymes with 'stem.'

Yay stellaa!
I have been watching this phenomena(sp?) for years now. Love, love, LOVE the TED lectures. I am a true TED addict. Wish I were closer to the action.
I have been intrigued by the concept of phsycological critical mass for *years* and if I was an industrious type, I would publish a book with all the "wasted" hours of "research" I have been amassing.

Now, because of your post and those of other's, I can sit back, home-made sangria in hand and live vicariously.

Pleeeeeze let us know the results of your experiments.

Had to come back. Wanted to be clear; I am not confusing memes and Phsy-critical mass, they are just both damned interesting to me.

Sally, you are right. The French say it different.

Also have to add; if I was not totally in love with the GF, I would be stalking Ms. Blackmore, I think....her brain is *hawt*!
....and she's got a cute bum! I got a serious weak point for athletic geek girls(....calculate this!)

And stellaa, *are* we all hardwired to be unique and original?
What about artists? More? Equal? Excellent question!

Stellaa, this reminds me of Pattern Recognition by William Gibson and the way they talked about language in Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
it's interesting

David : thanks, I am perplexed with the competing desires in humans.

Sally: I will check Rob's out. I think the French is the word for same, the "meme" that is discussed by Blackmore is from the Greek, memos(sp) to imitate.

Kite: I am a TED groupie. Unique and original, the struggle.

I can't believe that i was arrogant enough to think that I was the only TED junkie here.

No wonder, You ALL are such a brainy lot.

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