From: <levy@Oswego.EDU>
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 17:11:09 -0500 (EST)
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: memetics-digest V1 #38
In-Reply-To: <199803240902.JAA02898@alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk>
>
> The problem seems to be the semiotic problem of not being able to
> transcend the explanatory system. When you deconstruct one mythic frame,
> you necessarily find youself subscribed to another. When you accept the
> meme of memes, you lose much of the security that those religious memes
> provided.
My general assumption is that people have a difficulting adapting to new
circumstances. I don't know whether to call it fear of change or what.
You would think that in such a changing world people would seek to
construct and reconstruct their sensibilities in order to adapt to new
environments. However we are apparently not that idealized and generally
change minor parts of ourselves. It makes sense that we would have
evolved this way, but with work, people generally are able to change parts
of themselves in accordance with will. One of the great things about
memetics is that it might become sort of a "unified field theory" for the
social sciences, based in psychology in particular. If this occurs I
think that the social sciences will become what Gurdjieff called a "fourth
way", an all inclusive language of living equipped with the enlightened
mythologies of science. We may very well be coming to the end of a long
period of fragmentation, "returning" to the days when education involved
eclectic and widespanning knowledeg, rather than training in specialized
disciplines. The same "renaisance" person could specialize in various
completely unrelated fields, bringing in knowledge from all the fields.
The reason I bring up these speculations is that the spiritual needs of
society may very well be filled by our own involvement in mundane
institutions (which will slowly change with the times) if the social
sciences are unified. Examples would be that education would have direct
purpose and would relate from the very start to the person's development
of a purpose.
Such is certainly not the case now. There is very little faith or
certainity in any pursuit. Perhaps that's a reason why people cling to
the ancient organizations that promise certainty. The new "fourth way"
educations would draw their certainty from knowledge of the psyche's
structure within the context of "schools" that facilitate cooperation in
acheiving goals.
Sure, it's possible to have cooperation right now but the certainty is not
their, and fragmentation of interests is there. I'm not pushing a
socialist or utopian concept, but simply a logical optimism that a village
which is aware of the bearings of it's actions on its own survival is
likely to act in a way that supports survival. We grew out of our need
for Gods and mythologies which once provided ceratinty, and this schism
may turn out to be what will have allowed the scientific reattainment of
certainity.
Rob
---------------->
"The universe has a habit of deleting anachronisms."
-P K Dick
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