From: <christopher_l._turner@hud.gov>
Message-Id: <9803268909.AA890931117@hudsmtphq.hud.gov>
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 98 11:52:04 -0500
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: memetic engineering?
Scott wrote:
>>>>>Ritual is no further from us than it has ever been. We are
steeped in a ritualistic broth...sort of like the 'primordial soup.'
Whether I'm flailing in the mosh pit or interviewing for a job I am
ritualistically engaged. This is the milieu of memetic exchange from
which sociocultural life forms emerge. Unlike genetic engineering,
where we work on systems of less overall complexity than ourselves,
memetic engineering suggests the opposite orientation..sort of like
Jonah trying to 'engineer' his way out of the belly of the whale. Can
a single component of a larger system impact the evolutionary progress
of that overlying system? How about when the overlying system swells
to global proportions?<<<<
Our social rituals (behavior) are the 'acting out' (operational
expression) of our memetic programs. Our (sociological, and to a
tremendous extent, ecological) environment is comprised of our
behavior. When we are willing to acknowledge that directing our (e.g.
social, political, economic, etc., etc.) behavior is the primary (of
not sole) function of our memes, rather than believing that our
'beliefs' (memes) _are_ 'reality' (or 'the way things are'), then we
may be more open to the idea of 'designing' our memes for the purpose
of designing our sociological environment.
Memetics, as an analytical system, promises a systematic, scientific
basis and approach to such a strategy, as simply 'a new way of life':
a new 'paradigm', if you will.
(That's my best effort at trying to verbalize this 'intuition' I am
working on. Can anyone
offer helpful suggestions or insights? Thanks.)
Chris
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