RE: The pace of change

From: Virginia Bowen (vbowen@bowenconsulting.net)
Date: Tue 19 Nov 2002 - 23:53:25 GMT

  • Next message: Jeremy Bradley: "Re: Fwd: Going ape"

    OK - out of lurkdom for a whopping 3RD time in one week!

    Grant's wonderful post reminded me of a long-time nagging question I've had that perhaps some of you here have discussed or have given a much more thorough mulling. That is - if computers are now agents of meme-spreading
    (and I believe they are), as these super-computers come into their own, is it possible or likely that memes will become less reliant (or even non-reliant?) on humans for transmission? And if so, what happens to humanity at that point? Do we become slaves to computer-generated memes? Do we drop back into a much less meme and technology driven society? Not being a "scholar", just a lay person very interested in memes, I don't even know if the ads and information and spam all over the place in computers is even considered memes, technically. So I ask.

    Personally, I wouldn't mind going back to a time when we were not constantly assaulted with advertisements and "sayings" in every single cranny of existence. Words and ideas being hurled at me like so many meme-bombs to the point where I dread leaving my house. But....at home I sit here in front of this computer, giving each new item no more than a few cursory moments' attention as I hurtle through cyber-space absorbing more, more, more!

    Virginia

    Murrieta, CA

    "My treasures do not clink together nor glitter. They gleam in the sun and bray in the night."

    -----Original Message----- From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf Of Jeremy Bradley Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 2:22 PM To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: The pace of change

    At 08:33 AM 19/11/02 -0800, you wrote:

    Grant:
    >An article I read about a year ago by a businessman who was selling to the
    >global economy said that the greatest problem he had today was the pace of
    >change. The world is changing so quickly that he couldn't use methods he
    >learned at Harvard Business School to solve his business problems. They
    >were obsolete before he graduated.
    >
    SNIP.............

    Sorry to snip such an excellent and insightful piece, and I am keeping this one Grant as it covers most of the main issues at play in the global conflict today. The only criticism that I have is that you have brought them ALL up in the one post. There is just one thing that I would add. Since it would take another two and a half planets worth of resources, and one hell of a lot of pollution control, to raise the quality of life of all on the planet to that of the average Westerner, many people see 'development' as a con. They see it as an elaborate con that has been perpetrated by the wealthy economic interests to enslave them. Personally I feel like we are strapped to a technological bobsled hurtling down a slope towards the unknown. Maybe I am a 'fraidy cat', or maybe I am judiciously cautious. On the subject of computers becoming 'more intelligent' than us, I think that that they may become more logical, or more reasoning, but not more intelligent. My hypothetical question is, if a super-computer logically and reasonably arrived at the decision that humanity was on an unsustainable path and that we must modify the 'pace of change', or even go back to a simpler lifestyle, like Gandhi suggested, would our intelligence take any notice of it, or would we declare it faulty and try to build another more superer-computer which would agree with what we wanted to hear? I reckon that it would be the latter option. Cheers Jeremy

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    =============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit

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