From: Wade T. Smith (wade.t.smith@verizon.net)
Date: Wed 21 May 2003 - 11:28:13 GMT
On Wednesday, May 21, 2003, at 01:13 AM, Keith wrote:
> A *lot* of meme replication is driven by attention rewards.
Regardless of one's preferred model of replication, and I know we're on
opposite sides, this reward system has been a central point to many of
your posts, and makes a great deal of sense. I think it works well in
any model of cultural evolution. The similarity of addiction and
cultish behaviors is striking, and rewarding to me, personally, as I am
not an addictive personality (just ask anyone who's gone off me...),
and I reject cults almost out of hand, although I've sat through a few
indoctrination sessions (yes, one of them was the scientologists), just
to be there and see what's going on.
Much of cognitive psychology is attempting to serve the reward system,
and, of course, we have more than several socio-biologic imperatives
that are based on reward, but I think, from what I've seen, that you
limit them, or at least, converge them, to the pleasure system. In some
small investigation of the BDSM community, I wonder at whether the mere
fact of strong sensation itself is not more central, where pain and
pleasure are, perhaps, indistinguisible, or serve the same ends.
And, the BDSM community is not a cult. Perhaps this would be a good
group for a subject of some memetic investigation.
Hell, at least the research would be more fun....
- Wade
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