Newsgroups: comp.ai.alife
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!alanf
From: alanf@netcom.com (alan filipski)
Subject: Re: Chainletters (Was: GET MONEY EASY AND LEGALLY)
Message-ID: <alanfD665oG.94y@netcom.com>
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
References: <3kmv2q$lt0@Trex.IenD.wau.nl> <3l4oa3$p62@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu>
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 21:14:40 GMT
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Sender: alanf@netcom13.netcom.com

In article <3l4oa3$p62@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu> lbsss@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu (Sen Song) writes:
-Mark R. Kramer (kramer@rcl.wau.nl) wrote:
-: You might ask "what has this to do with Alife?"
-: Read the article by Oliver Goodenough and Richard Dawkins in Nature of
-: september 1994: "The 'St Jude' mind virus" (Nature vol.371, pp.23-24)
-Anybody interested in writing an evolving chain letter?

I once made some substantial modifications (engineered mutations) to
the St. Jude letter, introducing some obscure and blasphemous
allusions, then sent the virus out by several routes.

The idea was that this form would convert humor, rather than religion,
superstition, or greed, into copies of itself.

A couple years later, I (twice) received a form that had clearly
evolved from mine; many of my subtle jokes had been replaced by crude
sexual allusions, but a number of characters introduced by me were
present.

The fact that the crudely sexual form tried (unsuccessfully) to
re-infect me twice suggests that it is more widespread, and thus has
higher fitness than the first mutant, which I did not see again.

Undoubtedly, the host population susceptible to infection by either of
the mutants is quite distinct from that of the original St. Jude
letter.

The electronic morph is also far more motile than its paper ancestor.



------------------------------------------------------------
alan filipski
finger for PGP public key
