Transcript Breakthroughs—the latest insights in meme theory
Breakthroughs
The latest insights in meme theory
The latest insights in meme theory
Presentation by Kate Jones at 21st Annual Double Festival of Project Renaissance, 2014
Introduction
• Each human mind is a unique combination of perceptions, concepts, experiences, contexts, beliefs and goals. • Both the physical Universe and the individual mind evolve through emerging layers of combinations, from unity to complexity, from chaos to organization. Both are
combinatorial
and
associational
. Both connect into clusters.
A short experiment
• Let’s play a little game. It’s called
Sequitur,
invented by Kate Jones in 1947
.
• We’ll take turns adding the next step until everyone has had at least 2 turns.
• Don’t write anything down!
The game played by Win, Chuck, Ariane, Rita, Tony, Chris, Tim, Rick, Kate:
Pumpernickel, Ezekiel, buy at Giant, less expensive, smaller, more efficient, frictionless, Bitcoin, new money, old debt, U.S. Treasury, Constitution Avenue, Capital, alphabet, numbers, Deuteronomy, deuterium, ozone layer, eggs, Easter, Easter bunny, hopping, Greece [island hopping], frying [grease], JAL [Japan Airlines, flying], JAP
Puzzles as paradigms
• Here are some puzzles that represent systems, growing from unity to open ended complexity.
• They can form countless different compositions, answering many different demands and goals.
• They illustrate that each level prepares the way for the next one. There are no wrong answers.
Polyominoes sizes 1 through 5
Rhombic Pentominoes
Matching shapes – wavy fives
Sextillions (the 35 hexominoes)
The 108 heptominoes
The 369 octominoes
All polyominoes 1 through 9
The polyiamonds 1 through 7
The 66 octiamonds
The polyhexes 1 through 5
The 82 hexahexes
Roundominoes – circle forms
Super Roundominoes
Grand Roundominoes
Matching paths - squares
Matching paths - hexagons
Matching paths - octagons
Matching paths - pentarcs
Colors/shapes – “Hexdominoes”
Colors and shapes – “Intarsia”
A quick buzz
Turn to the person next to you and in just a few sentences tell your partner your thoughts on these questions: • What was the main point illustrated by these images?
• Which ones stood out the most for you?
• How do images symbolize connections and ideas?
A poetic interlude
• Life is a puzzle, and certain principles of system viability apply to both. I will use puzzle images created from the Intarsia set to illustrate the coherence, integrity and beauty of the Universe and, by extension, of the human mind. • Both evolve through emerging levels of organization and complexity. Both are
combinatorial
and
associational
.
153 syllables
• The viewer is asked to be aware at the same time of four interlinking strands of thought —the evolution of the Cosmos, the development of an individual mind, the symbolism of the illustrations, and the meanings of each haiku.
• Look for relationships between parts and the progression from one stage to the next.
Discussion
• Turn to the person next to you and in just a minute or two tell your partner what points most attracted your attention, and • How did it feel to be aware simultaneously of four levels of connection, and to be making those connections, if these ideas were new to you?
A new theory of human consciousness
• Introducing memes • A meme is a unit of electromagnetic data. It will hold its pattern as the DNA passes on its genetic code for replication.
• They take on a life of their own and act like any life form seeking to preserve itself from destruction and change. • Through language and action, memes seek to spread themselves to others.
Defense
• With any new stimulus, input filters check for similarities, differences, and any associated hazards.
• Repetition of experiences reinforces impressions, context, and reaction.
• Every stimulus gets a value tag based on what’s already in the file.
• The value tag triggers a complex of emotions. It hijacks the lower functions.
How does the system know?
• The human software’s hierarchy sorts itself by patterns. It follows a template, from DNA replication to meme structures.
• From the unit building block of survival needs to the most complex legal contract, the memes cohere in ascending sizes of conceptual complexity.
• Any meme “bundle” can be unpacked into its contributing components.
Memes and emotions
• Ideologies or belief systems are huge clusters of memes that have rationalized their structure. They will seek to maintain their control and build ever-increasing power over others.
• Feeling trumps thinking. Because humans’ emotions are programmed into the memes’
modus operandi
, the host has difficulty in “rethinking” a proposition.
Is progress mathematical?
• Consider human societies from clan and tribal to global groupings, and altering the support structure from marauding and conquests to subtle diplomatic dealings.
• Productive cooperation—can it work at the largest societal level without sacrificing the unit, the individual?
• Resource management for the long term.
The purpose of purpose
• Through natural selection, the most potent and self-preserving functions survive.
• If staying alive is the highest priority, all else is subsidiary to that main purpose.
• Other “purposes”, whether careers or art or social structures, can grow only out of a surplus built from the previous level.
• “Transcendental” seeks the next level.
Free will
• Abstract thought is a relatively recent development of the brain. Thinking about thinking is an emergent property.
• Understanding ourselves and examining our meme set dispassionately is not a ready skill. Re-evaluating our belief systems and voluntarily making changes based on better evidence takes an effort of will —like a supervisor meme.
The self looking at the self
• Introspection is an emergent skill. When does a child become aware of itself, and of how much about itself?
• Can the mind reprogram itself? Can it be self-correcting? Yes, with sufficient input.
• The scientific method shows human knowledge is cumulative and correctible. Myths, faith, rationalizations get in the way. We need the “truth” meme.
What about imagination?
• Memes can project future developments based on what is already known. A pattern replicates like a fractal. The template keeps building. The system is “sticky”.
• Human ingenuity and inventiveness are attributes of this reaching forward and stretching higher. Induction, deduction, inference, logic —tools built of memes.
Everything is a symbol
• Symbols (icons) are the mind’s shorthand way of picturing its memes. Each symbol sits atop a huge pyramid of supporting concepts and may, in turn, be a building block for a larger chain. Check the roots or premises.
• Words are symbols, too. They are memes made visible. Speech is memes made audible.
Conflict resolution
• In conflicts and confrontations, ask: What memes are at stake here? What are the participants defending?
• It’s more important to
be
right than to be thought to be right. It’s OK to make mistakes as long as they’re corrected.
• There are no paradoxes. There is no conflict of interest. Go to the next level.
Making sense
• Know thyself. Be your own explorer, anthropologist and archeologist of your unique meme set. Then enjoy encountering others and sharing their unique insights in camaraderie and compassion. “I’m OK, you’re OK.”
Making more sense
• If evolution favored the predatory and ruthless, that does not work in building lasting civilizations. We need the next level of cognitive development. These brains of ours have the complexity of a galaxy. We just need to look inside.
• Win’s methods are a step in the right direction for dynamic thinking. It’s time to break the old paradigms.
Everything is a metaphor
• All learning (programming) is through stories— fables, allegories, nursery rhymes...
• All our entertainments are in the form of stories —movies, books, plays, TV, even songs, radio plays, news reports, celebrity gossip. We are steeped in the artificial excitement of fiction every waking moment. Every story reinforces a meme. How can we tell the real from the make believe? Reality check.
The totalitarian temptation
• Along the hierarchy of values, there is a continuum. The mind’s calculus posits the largest and the smallest, galaxies vs. the quantum level, infinity vs. the singularity. • Any quality can run to the totality of its potential and is driven by the engine of life and growth.
• Unchecked, a system moves toward the totalitarian terminus.
A poetic finale
In just 10 rhyming couplets, let’s sum up all of existence, starting with the Singularity and moving up to Infinity, and maybe returning to the start…
Singularity to Infinity
,
A roundtrip through epistemology
1. Being
—
the interface to understanding
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am; what is it, and what does it do; And what should I do with it, and with you?
Bowties
10 unique X-tiles
2. Understanding
—
encoded through mathematics
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Well, let us say that one and one is two.
That seems to fit, and so it must be true .
Ten Yen
10 unique pieces
3. Mathematics
—
the matrix of language
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
There’s more—there’s deca-,hecto-, mega-, giga, And peta-zetta-yotta, even bigga...
Throw A Fit
10 uniquely colored dice
4. Language
—
the carrier wave of thought
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
So words are handy to give things a name That others recognize to mean the same.
Super Roundominoes
®
10 shapes, 10x10
5. Thought
—
the vehicle of Reason
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The wetware chortles in its galloping growth And makes some rules to sort out what it knoweth.
Rhombic Pentominoes
20 shapes, 10x10
6. Reason
—
the guardian of truth and reality
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Debunk the junk, each fallacy and fad, Though magicians show, illusions aren’t all bad.
Quintapaths
20 unique sticks, 10x10
7. Reality
—
that which is, in every form and structure
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If it exists, it’s energy or matter And other stuff, like cosmic background chatter.
Fractured Fives
10 sides, 10 images
8. Structure
—
the template of evolution
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Life’s blueprint builds ’em, weird or elegant… Genes make both dust mites and the elephant.
Rhom-Antics
Decagon of Penrose Rhombs
9. Evolution
—
the ascent toward infinity
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
New combinations play with what makes sense, Like fractals bounded by the longest fence.
Deka-Mosaik
10-fold symmetry
10. Infinity
— the birth place of being
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
160 billion light years through, The Universe kept on till it made you.
Pentarose
10-fold circular symmetry
Breakthroughs for the future:
What do you foresee?
1. What 3 or 4 points most stood out for you in this talk, and what do you think there was about them that caused these to catch your attention? What thoughts or observations came to you while hearing them? 2. Can you identify 3 ways that some of what we explored here might be useful to you in understanding and evaluating future experiences and information? What is it about these 3 that you think might be useful in this?
3. What are some of the ways that we, in today's world, could conceivably help along the higher evolution of consciousness in our fellow humans? Please list as many as come to mind, particularly to improve education.