Turning 50 and found out I operate a brain on Aspergers and dyslexia...thought I might share some of my aspie-rations about memes

An Aspergian on Memetic Engineering (Mindful magic: meta-programming self)

Buddha’s introductory lesson on memetic Engineering.

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

-Buddha

Two of my hero’s quotes combine to create a memplex. Understood as a whole they are an example of memetic engineering explaining memetic engineering. I title this memeplex “How to change the world.”

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions, which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions - Albert Einstein

The things to do are: the things that need doing: that you see need to be done, and that no one else seems to see need to be done. Then you will conceive your own way of doing that, which needs to be done --that no one else has told you to do or how to do it. This will bring out the real you that often gets buried inside a character that has acquired a superficial array of behaviors induced or imposed by others on the individual.” -R. Buckminster Fuller

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. - Albert Einstein

Introduction

What is a meme? Wikipedia states "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate mutate and respond to selective pressure.

From Urban dictionary we have this for meme.

1: an idea, belief or belief system, or pattern of behavior that spreads throughout a culture either vertically by cultural inheritance (as by parents to children) or horizontally by cultural acquisition (as by peers, information media, and entertainment media)

2: a pervasive thought or thought pattern that replicates itself via cultural means; a parasitic code, a virus of the mind especially contagious to children and the impressionable

3: the fundamental unit of information, analogous to the gene in emerging evolution theory of culture - meme pool (n.): all memes of a culture or individual - memetic (adj.): relating to memes - memetics (n.): the study of memes

4: in blogspeak an idea that is spread from blog to blog

5: an Internet information generator, especially of random or content less information

Meme is a big word. The implications suggest a connection between personal psychologies and culture. The word “meme” may well be a unit of measure of culture. Some but not all people see this word as the meta-meme.

In this light I see culture as a meme pool. The diversity within a meme pool directly affects the personal. I am a piece of my culture’s pool of memes. If I am unique as an individual than I contain a unique meme pool.

The ideas created by “meme” induce wonder and spark new thoughts about words and their meaning. The words “I” “me” and “self” take on new meaning. All of us would like to explore the meme world with you. Roses are red violets are blue I am schizophrenic and so am I.

A note on Duality

My critically thinking starts with duality. I split up a concept or idea in two then utilizes this duality to initiate an analysis of the whole or “meme” in this case.

First memes are contained, created and operated by the human brain/mind. Copies of memes in written form, film, or notes on a page, all storage in any manner does not operate anything. Secondly memes produce behavior, mental and/or physical. Memes are mental constructs resulting in tangible behavior exhibited by humans as a group or individually. Go to youtube and search “Century of self.”

Experience and behavior are directly related to a mental image of reality and self within it. Cultures and their meme pools directly affect behavior. To my sensibility’s memes transfer themselves to other brains through multiple mechanisms. We are social beings.

Memeology is not as popular as I would like. But, Memetic engineering has been around for decades. We call it media, entertainment, news and education. We also call it culture. I see it as the firmware and software, combine them we get wetware. This way it is organic. Our brains pick up on cultural/familial memes and create memetic wetware patterns of behavior as we develop. Our brains take on, repel and mutate the meme patterns presented to us during maturation.

If my metaphor with computers works well than our brains have the power to self-program. We contain the ability to change our wetware.

One more thing on memetics

Humans by use of their DNA created brains have spawned cultures by the thousands and all the trillions of products/memes these cultures contributed to civilization today.

How many memes might you fit on the head of a pin? How many memes can fit though the eye of a needle? How many memes are in your mind, well how many behaviors do you have? I can envision how my thoughts combine and conglomerate to form memes because I see thoughts producing behavior.

Thoughts can stick to each other as reasons to support behavior like going to work or flicking the finger at a driver for cutting you off. Reasons are thoughts. When you combine or group reasons together to support a behavior they as a group behave as a meme.

A single word can be a meme. Words like love, sadness, patriotism, fanaticism and religion are but a few suggestions of single-word memes. Think of all the one word memes we have in our dictionary and you may start to see the number of memes a mind can hold.

This has infinite possibilities considering imagination is more powerful than knowledge. The power to consciously create new thought/behavior combinations to enhance the human condition through memeology and memetic engineering is awesome.

A new beginning

The single-word meme ‘gylany’ would be a good place to start. Gylany defined by the author Riane Eisler. Culture based in complete equality and equanimity between the first duality for humanity, woman and men. This is a middle ground between patriarchal and matriarchal society building.

Here we have the duality-critical thinking method I spoke of earlier. In other words civilizations basic units are woman and man. How we structure our first memetic dyad of the man woman relationship is as a stone entering a calm pool of water. The epicenter is the woman/man dyad and the rippling effect of this relationship spreads as circles of memetic energy through out our societies.

Why do we have a meme set into almost all living cultures separating women and men as we do? A duality so simple, so basic to human survival to be set up unequal and with very little to no equanimity is absolutely dumfounding to my sensibilities. Where do we as humanity unit if not within the duality of the feminine and the masculine?

Ok, end of intro

The invention of the word meme is a meme. The use of them on self is like stepping into a mental space full of mirrors. The word can separate one’s intelligence to look back in on mental topographies. Not too far off from meditation.

Timothy Leary’s I2 (intelligence squared) as a symbol for this technique of looking back in on personal mental spaces is appropriate. Personally I have found the word meme a powerful method for self-change.

If I2 is two self-contained intelligences one looking back upon the other to gain self-knowledge than what would I3 represent? How many powers of “I” can we humans envision?

Me myself and I are going on a journey into the art of navel gazing. I hope some of you will enjoy my ideas and take the journey with us into what life might be with positive memetic engineering. Guided by equanimity and equality.

Thank you for your time...