Memetics: Examples & Links

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_panic_cases#2000%E2%80%93present
  2. Egregore example that is difficult to explain without memetics: abduction stories. From Scott Alexander: “And cultural context can be a sort of hypnosis. We use terms like “mass hysteria” and “culture-bound mental disorder” to refer to the phenomenon when weird experiences can spread through vulnerable populations like an epidemic, each report sparking further reports as people feel social pressure to conform.” https://asteriskmag.substack.com/p/deros-and-the-ur-abduction
  3. Holobionts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holobiont
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organismic_computing
  5. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dbG6kv5ixxRNNSNBh/the-reductionist-trap
  6. Reification: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/F3CwkGqEdY5KZogGS/catalonia-and-the-overton-window
  7. School shooters: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YNEWHMeMzc_f6N87bSLcjSrCBw6Hj2ihhmbSgc toppbUPU/edit?tab=t.0
  8. “Why can’t we stop thinking? First, note that this is actually a real puzzle/question, and an interesting phenomenon. Possible answer: memes that “get rehearsed” often do better.” [The Meme Machine] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qrW8hS7fKhTZv8DjXmnEAhlo9Ab15_XxDtFChcSGErg/
  9. My summary: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BPUkyZGkpGT6LHo3S5fBzCDIs39KYJAbtGB_VeNCEkY/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.ie53ut31m98m
  10. “A symbiotic organism that reproduces with its host, is more likely to be supportive of the host rather than parasitic. Similarly, a memeplex that spreads by reproducing with its host is more likely to be beneficial to the host, and thus pro-social and pro-civilization, than a memeplex that is spread virally. Thus, the family is the optimal place for the transmission of ideas, and the health of the family is the health of the civilization. The religious and intellectual institutions that arose with a civilization, will transmit healthier ideas, than the ideas that spread via the latest fads.” https://devinhelton.com/principles-of-formalism
  11. Glossary: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zWmz1rn4USREX-olZBHz-WO1gVejtsXUQUk8dZ-w0Lc/edit?tab=t.0
  12. Memes as like apps on your phone; you need them for one task one day but then they stay around competing for your attention
  13. https://www.notion.so/Memes-Egregores-Ideas-12f47cd1693045e88721059d634d1584
  14. Hofstadter: “Hook: “It is your duty to convince others that this sentence is true”; Bait: “The villain is wronging the victim.” Bait and subtle hook: “The whales are in danger of extinction”.“ https://on-memetics.blogspot.com/2011/04/douglas-hofstadters-contribution-to.html
  15. Propaganda Patterns https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a6mBvB4lxbMhSPfVPVZXv7JPw_lJ-G2gh8nJgYzQdHw/edit?tab=t.0
  16. How to introduce it to new people: information (“memes”) is subject to natural selection. Information that is good at replicating itself and staying around is information that you’re more likely to come across. Ideologies that are good at replicating themselves tend to do very well in this world. Note how different this is from “ideologies which are true” or “idealogies are useful” You can also notice that ideologies are alive, for the biological definition of life. This prompts a gestalt shift: the idealogy is the agent, and human minds are just a substrate for it. Or, idealogy is parasite/virus and human is host.
  17. If your system isn’t trying to self replicate, it’s going to be outcompeted by systems that do. Why did personal identity evolve? Because systems which prioritize their self outcompete those that don’t; and it’s hard to priotize self without personal identity concept
  18. “All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institution
  19. Christianity and Islam: Religions, at their heart, are the most basic form of memetic replicator – “Believe this statement and repeat it to everyone you hear or else you will be eternally tortured”.
  20. Important sentence: the brain is a battlefield of ideas.
  21. Above two notes come from wearehostsformemes.com

WW2 propaganda poster “Transformation of the Fritz” [derogatory term for German]