First, is anyone familiar with the works of Ken Wilbur? I think that his
explanation of holons would help some of the disucssions that starts
to discuss the levels upon which memes are working. Simplistically
speaking, it goes something like this. Rather than a hierarchy, you have a
holarchy, in which individuals holons on one level eventually form together
to transcend their limits. Together they become a holon on the next level
with new properties. However, this holon cannot exist without the holons
below it. Thus every level of transcendance can only be stabilized when
the previous levels are integrated into the entire system. Therefore,
although the levels of holons arise as a hierachy, they operate as modules.
This has been a revolutinary meme that I use for integrative thinking in
many fields. It comes from his book Sex, Ecology, and Sprituality where he
also outlines the four quadrants - interior-individual,
interior-collective, exterior-individual, and exterior-collective. I also
adhere to Wilbur's opionion that the monologicial gaze of the exterior has
induced a state of flatland that has ignored the value of the interior. I
mention this because I saw some postings that seemed to assert a flatland
view, which, although rational, isn't inducive to true skeptical inquiry of
everything seen and unseen.
My second point is that I think a lot of this memetic discussion is begging
the question of consciousness. As an omega point theorist myself, I
believe that the omega point is the coming together of all the multiverses
into one true universe. This of course is a philosophical
pseduo-scientific view, I know. So if this end point of consciousness is
one vast vessel, it will have to an energy field that unifies all the
paradoxical memes. In the involution of consciousness, we are only at the
stage where the field of energy exerted by the human mind can contain
memes. But as consciousness continues it's involution, things are going to
get a lot more ethereal and we will reach a stage where individual entities
are only distinguished by their collection of memes. In fact, all you know
about my existence, other than tracking down my rough geographical location
from my e-mail address, is this poorly summarization of a few memes that I
have inadequately explained given the constraints of time before I have to
leave my home.
Most people desire to be acknowledged and understood for their true selves,
beyond all symbols and phsycial appearances. Perhaps that won't be truelly
possible until that is what we are, selves composed of nothing but that.
And then those borders will give way.
-Matthew