Memes--The basic buiding block of culture, just as genes are in biology. This term (meme) was first used by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book 'The Selfish Gene.' Stories, urban legends, myths (ghosts, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy), religions, theories, and language would be some examples of memes.

Experience and Skepticism are not memes and are considered two examples of the mental immune system posed against viral memes. Many memes, whether they are true or not, provide benefits to its host; this is one of their tools for rapid and successful replication and proliferation.

The purpose of this group is to put a spotlight on our memes (ideas, beliefs, religions, political systems) and use a healthy dose of anti-viral agents (experience,skepticism, and rationality) to weed out the inappropriate and false memes; that they remain logically consistant and avoid paradoxical pitfalls.

Join me for this intelectual and enlightening exercise! See if your pet meme can survive public scrutiny! Here's a chance to purify your ideas; if they live through this cyber-battle, your memes are certainly ready to pollinate and infect the real world!

Memonically yours,

Monty Vonn--Founder
The Questarian Society
http://hometown.aol.com/questarians/tqs.html

P.S. I am aware that we all lead busy lives, so I post all letters and responses weekly on the weekends to control the traffic. I do not wish to overwhelm your e-mail box.