Re: virus: Sign memes & Chomsky

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Tue, 15 Apr 1997 11:34:16 -0700 (PDT)


On Mon, 14 Apr 1997, Corey A. Cook wrote:

> Tony wrote:
> >I think that the process of world wide awakening of individual
> >consciousness' is a natural process. All the misguided atempts at
> >controlling information are doomed to failure in the long term (although
> >in a single lifetime it does allow the wicked to rule the good in some
> >isolated pockets IMHO.)
>
> I couldn't agree with you more. The total and unabridged access to
> information may very well throw our culture into anarchy as more and
> more people wake up to the fact that they are letting others control
> them. But hopefully, what we are truly seeing are the birth-pangs of
> a new and better civilization.

I have the feeling that while /access/ to information will expand, there
will also be a trend (that we are already seeing) toward specialization in
knowledge. A conflicting pull towards Guilds or Societies (or University
Depts) with an exponential greater, more in depth understanding of a
given field than the layman could hope to understand. We already have
this in many fields (Physics, Fine Arts), where the lag time between
discovery and public understanding can be years or even decades.

Should we form the Memeticist's Guild now, or wait `til later?

-Prof. Tim