Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA20048 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 15 Jan 2002 03:56:10 GMT Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.0.20020114224421.02c37db0@pop.cogeco.ca> X-Sender: hkhenson@pop.cogeco.ca X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 22:53:14 -0500 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@cogeco.ca> Subject: Re: Knowledge, Memes and Sensory Perception In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.0.20020114201649.00a3e6d0@mail.clarityconnect.com> References: <200201150107.g0F178g22772@mail2.bigmailbox.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
At 08:29 PM 14/01/02 -0500, Ray Recchia <rrecchia@mail.clarityconnect.com>
wrote:
>I don't think this C-meme, I-meme distinction is a good one. Person Alpha
>learns how to ride a bicycle by watching someone else do it.
>I-meme. Person Beta learns how to ride a bicycle by having someone
>describe the motions necessary to accomplish the action. C-meme. They both
>know how to ride a bicycle but you would call this two different
>memes. Just to screw things up even further suppose Person Delta, without
>seeing or reading any description of how to ride, just figures out that
>the thing must be for riding and plays with it until she figures out how
>it works. A- or Artefact derived meme right? Humans built the bicycle and
>you can figure what to do with it just by playing with the thing. I think
>the meme should be 'riding a bicycle' and not have different labels
>depending on how one arrived at it. The distinction between the three
>modes of transmission is an important one but I do not think it works for
>describing the memes themselves.
>
>Ray Recchia
I certainly agree. Abstracting the information and letting that be the
meme is by far the best way to understand memes. There is no reason to
complicate what is a very simple concept.
Now *why* people can be infected with memes that do them and their genes a
great deal of damage, *that* an interesting topic. It happens to be one I
spent a good number of years trying to understand.
Sex, Drugs and Cults
---An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective On Why and How Cult Memes Get A
Drug-Like Hold On People
"Cult memes hijack two evolved psychological mechanisms. One is
capture-bonding, also known as the Stockholm Syndrome. Capture-bonding
evolved as a survival mechanism for individuals captured between
tribes. It lies behind social phenomena as diverse as army basic training
and spouse abuse. Cults evoke capture-bonding mechanisms for both
obtaining and retaining members. (Examples, EST lockup meetings, Moonies
isolation recruitment, Scientology RPF.)
"The other and more important psychological mechanism is attention
rewards. Cult (memes) take advantage of this reproductive success related
reward pathway by focusing attention on members (love bombing, auditing and
attention intensive "training routines.") Attention is used by social
primates to measure social status, a matter of major importance
particularly for males in determining reproductive success. Attention
activates the major brain reward pathway by causing the release of
endorphins and dopamine. This is the same reward pathway hijacked by
addictive drugs.
"Evolutionary psychology is invoked to analyze both of these mechanisms."
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