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A Proposal for a Memetic Test Bed
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· · · · · · A E C F O R U M - "M E M E S I S" · · · · ·
· · · · · · · (http://www.aec.at/meme/symp/) · · · · · ·
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Please see my on-line memetic visual dictionary
-- at http://www.wolfram.com/~mathart/dictionary
I have learned that my paper on this system,
"A Regenerative, Internet-Driven Philosophical Engine"
has been accepted for presentation at the major academic conference, the
Inter-Symposium on the Electronic Arts (ISEA'96), September 18-20 in Rotterdam,
the Netherlands. (See http://www.eur.nl/ISEA96 and http://www.xs4all.nl/~isea)
This is my implementation of a memetic, philosophical test bed in a symbol
processing system. Given that Memetics is to philosophy as genetics is to
biology, I am constructing memes from atomic definitions and semantic bonding
rules. The dictionary also allows linking audio-visual objects to word
definitions by supporting HTTP-style Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).
Such a system should allow one to create quick-cut video streams on-the-fly
from typed (or spoken, with just another filter) poetry or prose.
Ms. Natalie Louise Hall-Marriott and Professor Don Herbison-Evans (University
of Sydney, Australia) have created a computer animation compiler for the Laban
notation of European ballet. I believe that Asian and Polynesian dance has a
more direct correlation between gesture and abstract ideogram than has the more
stylized European dance. I would like to create a philosophical test-bed in a
symbol-processing system, linking the attitude of the limbs in Asian
dance and Yoga to the philosophical ideograms for which these gestures stand.
Such a system should allow one to build conversational streams in real-time
using human-understandable three-dimensional symbols.
The Mathematica system for doing mathematics by computer has implemented nearly
the entire set of natural mathematical language (pre-dates computer languages
by thousands of years) in a computer symbol-processing system. Mathematics is
the formal language of science. Goedel's theorem on the incompleteness of
formal systems has as its corolary that a meta-universe can be constructed to
resolve the apparent inconsistencies in a lower-level universe.
Internet culture at the moment holds that media injects renegade memes (idea
genes) into the meme pool (popular culture) as viral infections. See, for
example: http://www.fringeware.com/HTML/memetics.html)
I'm not sure that a memetic model demonstrates Darwinian "survival of the
fittest". A computer symbol processing system can act as a philosophical
simulation. It will catch inconsistencies and allow the user to modify
assumptions in order to improve the overall model.
I see memetics as an attempt to locate "truth" in the midst of philosophical
complexity and information bombardment. A memetic testbed can act as a
detector of bogus information, which will at least equip the user with a hard,
analytical tool.
I believe that we do not have a sufficiently good, objective model of ourselves
with which we can compare ourselves. That is our biggest handicap.
We have lost the standards by which to judge truth and success - or at best
the standards have been reduced to economic terms. Certainly judgement systems
for the fine arts (non-performance, studio arts) have all but collapsed in the
United States.
This is the source of my faith in computer models, particularly the
network-as-computer of the Internet - an all-encompassing distributed database
of human knowledge, which can be processed by self-consistent autonomous agents.
I know that in nearly all fields of scientific inquiry, there are frontiers of
knowledge - fringes of the known universe beyond which lies the unknown.
Traditionally the realm of the unknown is populated with superstition,
philosophical speculation, metaphysics, spirituality and artistic imagination.
The fact that art lies in the fringes relegates it to the most tenuous of
supporting foundations.
I see no reason that this logical universe cannot be unified in a single,
self-consistent abstract system. To me, the Internet is the meme pool which
unifies all these fields of enquiry.
I believe there can be constructed a hierarchical model of abstraction, which
is rooted in physical fact, and which can encompass all human endeavors:
.
.
.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Abstraction
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mind/Spirit
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Abstraction
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.
.
.
Abstraction
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Physical Reality/Necessity
xvmwvxxvmxvmwvxwvxvxwwxvmxvxvmwvxxvmxvmwvxwvxvxwwxvmxvxvmwvxxvmxvmwvxwvxvxww
I do not believe that science, mathematics, metaphysics, spirituality and the
arts are mutually exclusive. If I am not mistaken, both Tantra and mathematics
were invented by the same culture. The abstract models we have which describe
our knowledge of ourselves and the universe are memes.
Scientific visualization yields quantum leaps in understanding by showing
in concrete form aspects of a system which were unsuspected when considering
the system in terms of abstract language alone. Visualization renders deep
abstraction accessible to an uninitiated, lay audience by transcending
abstraction. Visualization communicates abstract beauty and value in visual
language. We have good analytical tools which operate on verbal language
symbols. We need the same for operating on visual language symbols.
My visual dictionary is intended to be a test bed for the memetic model of
philosophy in which I will be able to run simulations which will hopefully
lead to new art. You see, philosophy is amazingly broad. It includes all
we know. It is the human meme pool.
I want to attach importance attributes to various memes and see
what percolates to the surface in terms of the more mundane variables.
How do we convert the mechanics of life into life's value? This is my
attempt to find an answer. It is a very wired approach.
I look forward to working with you.
-Stewart Dickson (c) Copyright 1996
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Stewart Dickson VOX (302) 731-2718
dickson@mathart.com FAX (302) 731-7482
http://mathart.com http://www.wolfram.com/~mathart (mirror)
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