We Have A Problem

Memetics :: The study of self-replicating units of culture. Ideas as genes :: Struggling to survive into the next generation. Ideas as microorganisms. Ideas with their own agendas and motivations. Ideas with the will to live. We think we are in control of the ideas we have :: But maybe they control us :: Sneaky little bastards.

In this interesting {and short} TED talk :: Diane Benscoter discusses her time as a Moonie and postulates that a brain under the influence of a cult is temporarily rewired to produce results that seem unthinkable to an outsider brain.

Put on your thinking cap {the good one you keep in the closet :: not the half-ass one you normally wear} and if see if you can’t apply some of her themes to the world-of-wonder which we discuss here ::

• Easy ideas as answers for complex questions

• Naïvety

• Self deluding optimism

• Circular Logic

• US vs THEM

Diane {can I call you Diane?} labels cult like MEME’s “viral memetic infections” :: The infection of a bad idea :: Echoing across a herd and gaining infectious power as it moves.

HumanGroups :: and HumanIndividuals :: are HardWired to be the host of continuously evolving ideas. It propels the whole forward :: Toward some unknown {hopefully kickass} destination. But it leaves us vulnerable to the attack of shitty ideas that should have died upon original conception. It’s not just the weak :: Or the stupid :: Or the base :: Or the small who can be infected {with the associated nega-rewiring of the brain}. Communism :: One of the worst MEME’s ever :: Swallowed up more than half of the Earth’s population before it began its retreat to France {where all bad ideas go to die}.

Don’t blame the infected :: They’re just human.

It’s The Prophet :: The Evangelist :: The Predator :: The Lair :: The Cultivators of the infection that must be blamed. They must be Ridiculed :: Scorned :: Mocked :: and STOPPED.

Her Majesty the Internet wants to be the {first ever!} bulwark against the Memetic Predator :: We should let her :: For the sake of ALL of our fragile little minds …

>> bleep bloop