Re: virus: Rationality

Alex Williams (thantos@decatl.alf.dec.com)
Sun, 23 Feb 1997 10:18:14 -0500 (EST)


> Memes are little snippets of information, etc, which we use as an operating
> base for the way we act and react, right? Well, I was thinking (whirr-click):
> Is ones rationale, and Logic a meme? Can one be infected by rationality,
> or does rationality control the memesphere (or vice versa)? Is rationality
> built in, or is it learned?

Here's my take on it Drakir (I haven't posted anything of late because
I don't like to get into the mewling of puling infants):

Memes are not /just/ little packets of information; think of your
memesphere as a `primal soup' of memes, some of which have greater
complexity than others, some of which are active enough that they
`reach out' of the primal soup and affect the world beyond (your
head). Some of the memes simply exist to be refered to by other
memes, or incorporated into larger meme structures that begin
functioning as a meme in their own rights just as organisms evolved
from the sea into more complex arrangements of chemicals.

As such, buth `rationality,' as a concept, and logic are memes in my
view. Logic is a meme complex that operates, primarily, on other
memes. The idea of rationality and judgement thereof is another meme
complex that incorporates part of the logic meme complex and refers to
both your own memetic processes and interpreting the spoor of others'.
The very basic /idea/ of rationality, in addition, can be used as a
descriptive term to describe a certain functioning pattern of memetic
interaction in a given memesphere.