Viral marketing, going viral - Dawkins and Hofstadter

[victor steinbok]

Not to make this a habit, but I disagree with Jon. I found instances of
"viral mail" that had a distinctly negative connotation in the mid-80s.
Specifically, it referred to a chain reaction of unprotected looping email
that served to implode mail servers. Specifically, the idea was that "bad
mail" was spreading like a virus. This is not the same connotation we have
for "viral email" or "viral video" today, where there is no opprobrium
attached--merely the idea that something is popular and the interest is
contagious. It's almost ironic that this sense of "viral" is juxtaposed to
"computer viruses". Perhaps this is the reason we still call the software
"antivirus", but now talk about the more inclusive "malware" as the culprit
to be eradicated.

Although I disagree with Jon on specifics (and support Garson's hypothesis
as plausible, although by no means proven), I agree with him in principle.
To his "spread like a virus" I would also add William S. Burroughs's
"Language is a virus" (The Ticket that Exploded, 1962), which was also used
by Laurie Anderson as a theme and a title for a song from 1984 (released as
a single in 1986). In fact, I would not discount the possibility that
Burroughs might have had influence on Hofstadter and on subsequent
terminology (main theme of TtT is technology-based social revolution).


VS-)

PS: Also note that "viral mail" is a concept in biochemistry of viruses.
PPS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZkjoXyexKk

In particular, note the screen in the background flashing the X-words (A
game, B flick, C note, etc.). Has anyone compiled a full list of these? (And
I don't mean those containing "word" in them, such as "N-word" or
"C-word").

On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 10:34 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> I doubt if Hofstadter and Dawkins had much to do with it.  GB has exx.of
> "spread like a virus" back to the early 1950s.
>
> JL

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