Re: virus: Swollen Ranks

Dave Pape (davepape@dial.pipex.com)
Tue, 02 Mar 1999 23:21:48 -0800

At 23:30 01/03/99 -0600, Kris, who is male, wrote:

>how can you become a part of Level Three is you
>don't even believe in it?

I could interpret you in the "level 3 = exclusive social club" sense, in which case I'd say be seen to support the silverbacks sagely wherever possible, maintain a lofty silence when L3 arises in conversation, be assertive but positive, be socially effective etc. Non-starter for me.

If you mean "How can you attain a state of fluid frame-of-reference-control if you don't believe such a state's possible" then I think you can achieve the *subjective feeling* of being in that state, but it's a bit of an illusion- the reality is certain learnt cognitive sub-systems modulating the activity of others- the same way your mind worked at 7 years old when you were at the whim of brand-pushing advertisers.

Minds are the sensation of large-scale neural systems that process the output of other such structures. Programs feed other programs, ideas control other ideas.

"L3" is a set of learnt ideas/programs which act in an executive role, switching between other learnt programs. All at an abstract level of content, which is why it's been described in terms roughly like "modulating points of view on the fly", again sorry I can't remember specific posts, it's been too long.

You might learn the ideas like this-

*Experience a helpful POV switch- maybe someone else provokes it, or you were distracted.
*Remember the experience. Maybe you've learnt strategies like noting down new tricks, or talking to yourself about them- rehearsing them, although the rehersal trick itself is a learnt neural program. *Eventually you learn the POV switch trick to an extent that helpful POV changes trigger a helpful proportion of the time during your cognitive day.

No seismic change in how your mind works- just another set of learnt ideas, neural programs which take processed information as input and yield processed information as output.

The journey between rare adaptive POV switches and appropriately common ones isn't sudden or discrete, it's a hike up a statistical curve; and just because your mind generates the sensation of POV changes at appropriate times doesn't mean you're master of your thoughts.

>Is there a URL you can provide for the JOM EMIT list? I've never heard of
>it before.

Yeh,

http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit/memetics/about.html

>I think it would be ridiculous for a public email list to even have a
>hierarchy.

Oh, it wouldn't have a formally publicised/endorsed hierarchy, oh no oh no. It's all between the lines in how we post each other. EG Rich B never really gets too out of control if I bait him, administers little clips round the ear, like the "brick ceiling" gag, succeeds in frustrating me sometimes: I reckon that means he's higher status than me.

We had a great meeting at work a couple of months ago: this old-school manager that I hate wrote the agenda, listing attendants exactly in reverse tribal seniority order. Two of us needed a second line, enhancing our lowliness yet further. I pointed this out as a joke, and he couldn't handle it because he's meant to be modern and open to ideas from all parties, and he pretended the list was ordered by age to nearest decade modulo 7 sub-sorted reverse alphabetically by middle initial. Then gave me a hard time for the duration of the meeting. I pulled my piece and poured clip after righteous 9mm clip into him, not stopping until I was choking on gun smoke and my wrists shattered from the weapon's explosive kicks and flings.

>We could divide up one
>year into four separate and very long months.

And each month into twelve 183-hour-long days. If you reach level 3 you attain conscious control over bodyclock and heartrate. And have bionic legs.