Re: Bad times traits

From: Keith Henson (hkhenson@rogers.com)
Date: Mon 21 Apr 2003 - 23:07:28 GMT

  • Next message: Van oost Kenneth: "Re: Bad times traits"

    At 08:34 PM 20/04/03 +0200, Kenneth wrote:

    >----- Original Message -----
    >From: "Keith Henson" <hkhenson@rogers.com>
    > > To keep this focused on memetics, the effect of turning on these
    > > psychological survival traits in humans is to make fanatic memes more
    > > likely to thrive.
    >
    >Keith,
    >
    >You 're saying that ' extreme ' memes, whatever the pad of that term
    >may be runs memetic evolution !?
    >
    >Personaly, I always suspected ' violence ' , whatever the pad of that
    >term may be, was and is in control.

    Sorry, most of the time I understand what you are saying, but you are using
    "pad" in a way that does not make sense. Please define.

    >Meaning:- without an opposite, without the dichotomy you won 't
    >get meaning as such.
    >People may thus be more prone to access their psychological
    >characteristic just because it proved, in the past, to be working.
    >
    >If memes, ' program ' people and their thinking, so constrain the
    >range of options we would prefer to take otherwise, we would
    >choose, are obliged to access our psychological characteristic !?
    >So, you 're characteristic would be a ' natural ' form of a neuro-
    >logically linked sense to ' groupbounding '............!?
    >And the group, weaker or stronger than their opposite, that
    >uses the most violence, uses extremes....wins !?
    >
    > > I should add that privation is not the only way for fanatic memes to do
    > > well in a society. Being attacked may invoke the same or a related
    > > mechanism. You can certainly make that case for the US since 9/11.
    >
    >If the above is correct, than the mechanism will invoke an uncontrol-
    >able snowball- effect......extreme, more extreme,.......more and more
    >exteme,........and bam.........

    I think that is what leads up to the kind of violent spasm we saw in the Hutu/Tutsi genocide. But after a huge number of people have been killed, the violence subsides--till the population builds up again.

    Keith Henson

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