>ERiC
I do believe that Everything is zero sum. On the other hand, I see
"efficiency" as being important. Take the illustration of a flooding river
(The Nile?). It has a quantity of water which adds to itself (is zero sum).
If irrigation ditches are created this energy is diffused and used
efficiently; but (in the purest sense), no new energy is created. the
destructive power of the river (atom, mind, meme), is harnessed and put to
work. The river which would have destroyed is used for a positive purpose.
Is the river made "bigger"? No; More complex? Perhaps. Is it "transmuted"?
I think the mind is capable of transfering energy from one meme to another.
I think it is efficient at using energy. I do--however--see a "spark of
life" which is needed to power it. I do not think that we are capable of
producing that spark internally. I see a "process" or meta-meme which has
an original inception (is the prime cause), which is capable of becoming
more complex and efficient but which is not capable of becoming *more*--one
original meta-meme which is organized and transmitted between the parts of
itself according to ones "capacity" to utilize it).
I like the "proton" example of memetic transfer (from a macrocosmic
perspective). I am still trying to use the example of a virus more
efficiently (in regards to this idea of transmission). On a sub-cellular
level (within the golgi apparatus of a cell), the energy which bonds the
proteins of a virus have a charge which first attracted the virus to the
cell and which the cell later utilizes to power the replication process.
The literature is scarce regarding this process, but it would seem that at
the level of DNA replication and energy transfer, the process illustrated in
the "action potential" example MIGHT take place (for what it is worth).
Brett
At 05:19 PM 8/10/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Brett Lane Robertson wrote:
>> I am saying exactly that! I am assuming that memes develop. That more
>> developed memes are more stable. That the "discharge" of one meme excites
>> the second memesphere. That a change in the structure of the second
>> memesphere occurs. AND that this change is in the direction of increasing
>> stability. BUT, this change is an "action potential" (like the excitation
>> phase of a neuron). This would leave open several possibilities as to the
>> next response. There may be a reorganization of the memesphere or a further
>> discharge of potential (the charge may relay to the next memesphere). There
>> is probably some excess charge that is used by the memesphere for
>> self-regulation (as opposed to growth)...perhaps some charge which is
>> disssipated into the surrounding atmosphere.
>This is an interesting idea -- comparing the spreading of ideas to
>"photons" of energy, as it were, and saying that our brains are like
>atoms, which are excited by the incomming energy of memes, and
>regorginaize themselves in response to it...
>But one problem I see is this: I don't the memetic "games" are zero
>sum. That is, I think the "atoms" that are our minds are capable of
>generating energy all by themselves (perhaps by memetic interplay
>between differing "selves"); and certainly of growing bigger and more
>complex (transmutation).
>But perhaps you said that.
>ERiC
Returning,
rBERTS%n
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