the timboucher experience

I finally figured out what it is about memes, memetics, and that whole system of thought which bothers me. Basically, it comes from a reductionist scientific worldview. It says, in essence, “An idea is like a virus, because it is contagious.” I realize this is just a model for exploring new perspectives on old problems. And that’s fine, but it’s not one which I like using.

I’m all about cooking up crazy theories and systems to figure out problems. I just think that the logical extension of the concept of “An idea is like a virus,” is that “Thinking is like a disease.” And I just don’t agree with that. The metaphor is too mechanistic for my tastes, because it starts to remove personal responsibility from the equation if people’s minds are just passive carriers of virulent ideas. It also sets up a sort of victim mentality for that same reason.

One other gripe that I have with memeticists when they talk about religion: they refuse to entertain that perhaps there are certain symbols and stories which are psychologically valid, useful, or potent for people. They basically just say that all religions are “viruses of the mind” and that we ought to purge ourselves of them once and for all. I couldn’t agree less with this sort of thinking.

• Memes & story engrams
• Memes & story engrams
• Against memetics (excerpt)
• Electric Memes
• RT @pizzaseo Open Mimetics Questions