Thanks for your post.

I may have been getting carried away with my economic metaphors again.

But I do think that culture and commerce are engaged in a very interesting relationship, with both parties engaging in extraordinary new acts of innovation.

It is mostly for the marketers purposes that I think the commerce camp should be more creative and less presupposing, to use Silverstein’s terms.

Thanks.

Is there anything in any culture, be it commerce, art, or popular belief, that is a “net exporter” of meaning? Nothing could “export” any meaning without reference to even more meaning that is acknowledged by the audience. Coca-cola ads shaped our notion of Santa Claus, and Christmas, but they didn’t create them out of thin air. They drew on “imported” meanings of what it means to be a child, to be in a family, and to get a present.

A “meaning” is like a piece of information–when you “export” or “import” it, you don’t take it away from anything. In an information economy, everybody is a “net importer.” I’d imagine it’s the same in the economy of cultural meanings.

Except that I have a feeling that I don’t understand what you mean by “import.” Perhaps you will explain in your next post…