Re: virus: memetics and upbringing

Brett Robertson (BrettMan35@webtv.net)
Thu, 2 Apr 1998 17:55:22 -0500


A meme is a self-organizing principal. This means that it is not (in my
opinion) behavioral. In my understanding, the environment (which
includes the behavioral) is handled through the theories of *genetics*.
That is (my peculiar view), all environmental contingencies-- and that
includes *experiential* things like traffic contingencies-- are handled
through chance (chance recombination, competition, and mutation). This
leaves, for memetics, "self order" (as I've said); which might be
defined non-content specific patterns of symbol organization which--
like math-- are predictive to a degree not covered by chance.

To differentiate between experiential contingencies and self-order note:

A meme for "survival" (for example) pairs competing responses of hunting
and preserving (and the needs for punishment, reward, proetection, and
nurturance) to negate-- or make a blanket statement about-- ANY OR ALL
contingencies related to the continuence of self as regards "possession"
(that is the competing meme sets of possessing "other" and maintaining
*self* possession as this regards the meta-meme of "safety").

Having a developmental exposure to this meme, all children and adults
within any culture might respond to a contingency like "traffic safety"
better or worse depending on the fitness of the meme. Though assigning
a contingency (other than self-order) to this meme-- like traffic
awareness-- makes this content specific "gene" selector into a cultural
competition (or cooperation) which either improves or decreases the
chance that any particular "child" be subtracted from the gene pool
based on an environmental factor and a "species" (this time, "cultural")
factor.

Or more simply, if the child's innate survival instinct (meme) is sound,
then the environmental factors of "other" (people) and (traffic)
specific environmental contingencies have an equal chance of being
optimum for the survival (or demise) of the child in any given
situation. Not being "intelligent" (or "self-ordered"), such
environmental factors are handled using statistical correlation and a
static "bell curve" of probability.

Brett Lane Robertson
Indiana, USA
www.window.to/mindrec
news:alt.pub.coffeehouse.amethyst