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Re: Never Mind the Cyberbollocks...
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· · · · · · A E C F O R U M - "M E M E S I S" · · · · ·
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>As Feurbach pointed out, all
>religion inverts reality. The creative powers of the human
>species are projected onto a divine being which we then bow down
>to worship.
This is not unique to religion. In fact, what you describe here is the
central thing which separates us humans from most other species: reflection.
Reflection is the ability to move away from a thing, turn around and view it
from a distance. This is the mechanism of self-awareness, this is how Freudian
blaming/projection works, this is how divine beings outside ourselves are
animated. You call it inversion of reality, but it is really a re-flection of
reality. We do it even in the most trivial everyday situations like looking into
a mirror. When we look into a mirror we see a person on the other side of the
mirror surface. By "inverting reality" we realize that that person in front of
us is in fact ourselves.
However, your claim that memetics appeals to mysticism is correct. It makes
use of the "demonic posession"-argument, which is classical mysticism. Today
we view "posessions" as mental disturbances. That is, behavior that is
structurally determined by the mental organization. In mysticism, however,
such behavior is often tributed to Beings (demons) _outside_ and _independent_
of the person. These beings "take posession" of that person, i.e. they use the
mind of that person as a host to propagate their means. Any fool can see that
'infection' and 'memes' are just modern versions of 'posession' and 'demons'.
In fact, this is exactly why memetics has had such appeal in certain
communities, and is precisely why memetics will never mature into a proper
science. In order for memetics to become a full-grown science it must let go of
its virus-fetish. Viruses are curiosities in nature. They are exceptions rather
than the rule and have little to do with mainstream biology. To base a
cultural evolutionary theory on a peripheral and non-essential biological concept
such as the virus is therefore close to madness. But the memetics community won't
let go of the virus metaphor because THAT is what is the appeal of memetics. The
mystical touch. Too bad, because there is an enormous potential in an
evolutionary sociology.
HOWEVER, this does not invalidate the vision of memesis. Integration is NOT a
mystical concept. In fact, it has happened several times in the history of
evolution, first with the abiogenesis of Prokaryotes. Then, later with the
symbiotic integration of Prokaryotic bacterias into the Eukaryotes. Then,
later still, with the integration of Eukaryotic cells into the multi-cellular
organism. Based on this there are no scientific objections of an integration of
humans into a super-organism. In insects super-organisms are common (termites,
ants, bees), and several ecosystems display all the major characteristics of
a biologically integrated unity. When homo sapiens first evolved it was probably
as a weak super-organism, namely the group. But as societies grew beyond the
size of the group the super-organismic structures broke down and human
culture became a more fluid, looser structured ecology. Now, with the emergence
of the global village the original intimacy of the group is regained. Therefore
an integration is definitely "in the air". This does not mean that an
integration is inevitable, but the possibility is definitely present.
Onar.
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