Some kinds of herbivore mothers deliberately feed their children mom's feces. Their guts need the bacteria to digest food properly. Of course, sometimes parasites hitch rides, but that can't be helped. As long as the parasites don't kill the baby animal before it has an opportunity to infect the next host, the parasites can survive.
Human brains do not work without the necessary infections of memes -- primarily supplied by the parents, but also from teachers, peers, and so on. Of course, sometimes parasites hitch rides. Unlike the herbivores, we can deliberately weed out the unnecessary and harmful memes.
(Or can we?)
Showing posts with label Memes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memes. Show all posts
The tiger's toe is not random
Eenie-Meanie-Minie-Mo
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers let him go
My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it.
This is a playground meme that children catch much like a virus. It is contagious because children falsely assume that it is a random generator. You use it to make decisions, to choose between two things. On the first three lines, you point your finger at each item alternating every second beat or word. On the last line, you alternate with every syllable. The last word eliminates one of the choices. Children use it to make decisions because they falsely assume that it randomizes the choice. They falsely believe that they have a magic formula that will make a decision for them. However, since the number of syllables is always the same -- children are very strict in following the formula precisely -- the decision is really made by the child with the very first choice of which item to point to. Because the phrase is so long and takes effort to remember, the child focuses on the recitation. By the end of the formula, the child has forgotten which item was pointed at first.
Memes can survive and spread for reasons contrary to what the hosts believe they do.
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers let him go
My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it.
This is a playground meme that children catch much like a virus. It is contagious because children falsely assume that it is a random generator. You use it to make decisions, to choose between two things. On the first three lines, you point your finger at each item alternating every second beat or word. On the last line, you alternate with every syllable. The last word eliminates one of the choices. Children use it to make decisions because they falsely assume that it randomizes the choice. They falsely believe that they have a magic formula that will make a decision for them. However, since the number of syllables is always the same -- children are very strict in following the formula precisely -- the decision is really made by the child with the very first choice of which item to point to. Because the phrase is so long and takes effort to remember, the child focuses on the recitation. By the end of the formula, the child has forgotten which item was pointed at first.
Memes can survive and spread for reasons contrary to what the hosts believe they do.
mental mutts and contagious memes
Steven Jay Gould argues for punctuated equilibrium. This is against the common view of evolution as a steady upward climb to humans. Instead, Gould argues that mass extinctions open new niches that are quickly exploited by the survivors.
After a mass extinction, there are fewer predators and fewer competitors. Survivors can be isolated from each other for a long time. A greater variety in each species can survive resulting in a greater diversity of each individuals. More species, greater variety, experimentation, an explosion of activity -- this is the "punctuated" part.
But eventually the environment is crowded, there are more predators, and the variety is paired down to the most viable. This is the "equilibrium" part -- and it could last for millions of years, as it did several times for the dinosaurs. But there is always the next mass extinction event.
Where are we? I think that we are in the "equilibrium" part. No one knows how long this one will last. And we seem to be engineering our own mass extinction event. But there is plenty already written about that.
Instead, consider the "punctuated" part of our past. The earliest big brained humanoids found a hitherto unexploited niche -- the mental world. No other animal can come close to the mental world created by humans -- and the first big brained humanoids were the prehistoric pioneers in this world.
There is every reason to think that there was an explosion of experimentation in early big brained humanoids (just as Gould's theory would suggest). We know the Neanderthal were a different kind of big brained humanoid. Perhaps there were a dozen different kinds of big brained humanoids who first pioneered the mental world. Humans are probably mental mutts.
Early big brained humanoids bred memes and passed them like contagion. Some memes kept the humanoids alive better (creating fire, making a flint spear head, where to find good red berries, etc.). But no meme survives without being contagious. If I have an idea, and I never tell anyone about my idea, that idea dies with me. My idea will only survive if I can show others how to create fire, how to make a flint spear head, and where to find those good red berries.
But the contagiousness of a meme is not necessarily connected to its ability to keep the host brain alive. The contagiousness of a meme requires the host to be alive long enough to pass it on, and for that the more excited the host wishes to pass on the meme the more likely the meme will survive. Thus the evangelical meme.
After a mass extinction, there are fewer predators and fewer competitors. Survivors can be isolated from each other for a long time. A greater variety in each species can survive resulting in a greater diversity of each individuals. More species, greater variety, experimentation, an explosion of activity -- this is the "punctuated" part.
But eventually the environment is crowded, there are more predators, and the variety is paired down to the most viable. This is the "equilibrium" part -- and it could last for millions of years, as it did several times for the dinosaurs. But there is always the next mass extinction event.
Where are we? I think that we are in the "equilibrium" part. No one knows how long this one will last. And we seem to be engineering our own mass extinction event. But there is plenty already written about that.
Instead, consider the "punctuated" part of our past. The earliest big brained humanoids found a hitherto unexploited niche -- the mental world. No other animal can come close to the mental world created by humans -- and the first big brained humanoids were the prehistoric pioneers in this world.
There is every reason to think that there was an explosion of experimentation in early big brained humanoids (just as Gould's theory would suggest). We know the Neanderthal were a different kind of big brained humanoid. Perhaps there were a dozen different kinds of big brained humanoids who first pioneered the mental world. Humans are probably mental mutts.
Early big brained humanoids bred memes and passed them like contagion. Some memes kept the humanoids alive better (creating fire, making a flint spear head, where to find good red berries, etc.). But no meme survives without being contagious. If I have an idea, and I never tell anyone about my idea, that idea dies with me. My idea will only survive if I can show others how to create fire, how to make a flint spear head, and where to find those good red berries.
But the contagiousness of a meme is not necessarily connected to its ability to keep the host brain alive. The contagiousness of a meme requires the host to be alive long enough to pass it on, and for that the more excited the host wishes to pass on the meme the more likely the meme will survive. Thus the evangelical meme.
General Necessities and Particular Contingencies
The Joy of Cooking is now over 75 years old. It was originally written by a widow in her 50's who was reacting to the lack of a pragmatic cookbook on the market. It grew into a large enterprise with historical eccentricities that helped make it unique. This history inspires loyalty.
But if it had never been, there would have been something else that filled its place with different idiosyncrasies. As long as this other possible cookbook was useful, the uniqueness of it would have inspired loyalty.
There are general necessities that could have been filled by any cookbook. The Joy of Cooking happened to be the one to fill that general meme niche with its particular contingencies; but it easily could have been another cookbook to satisfy this general necessity with different particular contingencies.
Holy Books are the same way. There is a general necessity, a meme niche, that is filled by magic books. The particular contingencies, the unique idiosyncrasies, of these books could have been otherwise.
Another example: there is a general need for measuring time, but the particularly weird method we use didn't have to be this way -- we could easily be using a base 10 numbering system for time rather than base 60. We need to measure time (general necessity or meme niche) but we don't have to measure time in this way (particular contingencies).
It is wrong to think that our method of measuring time must be this way. It is wrong to think that a cookbook must have been written this way. It is wrong to think that the Bible must have been written this way. Something else with different particular contingencies could have filled that general necessity just as easily.
But if it had never been, there would have been something else that filled its place with different idiosyncrasies. As long as this other possible cookbook was useful, the uniqueness of it would have inspired loyalty.
There are general necessities that could have been filled by any cookbook. The Joy of Cooking happened to be the one to fill that general meme niche with its particular contingencies; but it easily could have been another cookbook to satisfy this general necessity with different particular contingencies.
Holy Books are the same way. There is a general necessity, a meme niche, that is filled by magic books. The particular contingencies, the unique idiosyncrasies, of these books could have been otherwise.
Another example: there is a general need for measuring time, but the particularly weird method we use didn't have to be this way -- we could easily be using a base 10 numbering system for time rather than base 60. We need to measure time (general necessity or meme niche) but we don't have to measure time in this way (particular contingencies).
It is wrong to think that our method of measuring time must be this way. It is wrong to think that a cookbook must have been written this way. It is wrong to think that the Bible must have been written this way. Something else with different particular contingencies could have filled that general necessity just as easily.
The Evangelizing Meme
Imagine two groups of people. One group's way of life is directed by a set of beliefs that are very relaxed... very live and let live. The other group is directed by a set of jealous beliefs so that these people insist that other people believe and behave in the same way. Obviously the more aggressive evangelizing meme will thrive. There is no connection to truth here anymore than dandelions are more true than grass. The meme for aggressively converting as many other minds as possible must have been selected early in the development of cultural evolution.
Make Love Not War
Biologists are beginning to demonstrate that certain parts of the human body are just poorly designed -- such as a knee joint that doesn't support our weight very well. (Compare how long a horse can stand.) We are this way as a result of our evolutionary history -- what Dawkins calls "The Blind Watchmaker."
Our memes can be poorly designed, too. They can be relics of a time when they were more useful. For example, a hatred of homosexuality is often manifested as a hatred of sex for pleasure. They believe that sex is for procreation, not recreation. (No abortions, no birth control, no homosexuality, no masturbation, etc.) This meme may have been useful when the human population was very low. But with over 6 billion people on the planet, things are different.
Let us jettison the sexual meme "sex is for procreation, not recreation." Today we need more happiness and fewer babies. Unlike our knee joints, we can chose to change our beliefs.
Our memes can be poorly designed, too. They can be relics of a time when they were more useful. For example, a hatred of homosexuality is often manifested as a hatred of sex for pleasure. They believe that sex is for procreation, not recreation. (No abortions, no birth control, no homosexuality, no masturbation, etc.) This meme may have been useful when the human population was very low. But with over 6 billion people on the planet, things are different.
Let us jettison the sexual meme "sex is for procreation, not recreation." Today we need more happiness and fewer babies. Unlike our knee joints, we can chose to change our beliefs.
The Meme Copernican Revolution
Instead of asking what an idea does for a person, ask what that person does for the idea.
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins introduces the meme as a mental equivalent to the physical gene. Some ideas survive and reproduce while others die out in a struggle for existence.
Gnostics and Shakers believed that birth is trapping a pure soul in a corrupt body, so they avoided sex. They also believed that their shining pure example would inspire others, so they did not evangelize. As a result no one is a Gnostic or a Shaker anymore. The memes are dead -- they failed to survive and reproduce.
Mormons and Catholics believe in marrying early and having as many children as possible. Both groups also have a strong emphasis on evangelizing. As a result, there are lots of Mormons and Catholics in the world. The memes are thriving -- they succeeded in surving and reproducing in the minds of new believers.
Imagine two groups of people. One group doesn't really care what people believe. The other group has a strong commitment to make other people believe the same thing. Certainly within a few generations the stronger meme will outnumber the weaker meme.
This doesn't mean that Mormons and Catholics are right and that Gnostics and Shakers are wrong anymore than dandilions are right and grass is wrong. Instead, it means that one set of memes spreads more aggressively than the other.
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins introduces the meme as a mental equivalent to the physical gene. Some ideas survive and reproduce while others die out in a struggle for existence.
Gnostics and Shakers believed that birth is trapping a pure soul in a corrupt body, so they avoided sex. They also believed that their shining pure example would inspire others, so they did not evangelize. As a result no one is a Gnostic or a Shaker anymore. The memes are dead -- they failed to survive and reproduce.
Mormons and Catholics believe in marrying early and having as many children as possible. Both groups also have a strong emphasis on evangelizing. As a result, there are lots of Mormons and Catholics in the world. The memes are thriving -- they succeeded in surving and reproducing in the minds of new believers.
Imagine two groups of people. One group doesn't really care what people believe. The other group has a strong commitment to make other people believe the same thing. Certainly within a few generations the stronger meme will outnumber the weaker meme.
This doesn't mean that Mormons and Catholics are right and that Gnostics and Shakers are wrong anymore than dandilions are right and grass is wrong. Instead, it means that one set of memes spreads more aggressively than the other.
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