Memetics: Core Stability and Meme Selection

This post is a follow up to a series of memetical post, the previous one being The Core Five Perspectives. They should be read in the appropriate order; a sorted list of all the posts are available in my blog.

Before I go into the fifth perspective, Core Stability, I need to generalize the principle of choice and respect into a full blown perspective: Variety Endorsement. This perspective will replace the more specific principles in the following way.



Variety Endorsement

We are all different. We are born different, with different sets of genes. We learn different skills, shape different memories, and acquire different set of beliefs, opinions, passions, ambitions and dreams. In other words, we all have a unique set of genes and memes which, presumably, are the only two relevant forces that act on our will.

Unlike our genes, which are only transmitted vertically (from parents to children), our memes are transmitted in every possible way - between friends, and acquaintances; by celebrities through tv, radio, by authors through books, by parents to children. The problem is that memes, just like genes, spread not because we necessarily want them to, but because of a simple result of statistics: whatever is more likely to spread, will spread.

We try to spread our memes to people by convincing them of our beliefs, opinions, and perspectives not because we necessarily feel good about it. We certainly find it tempting to "enlighten" people with that which we are convinced of, but we keep trying even when it becomes frustrating to us. It is this frustration that defines the borderline between the memes interest in spreading and your well being, because you are no longer doing what is good for you, you are instead doing what is good for your memes.

If we are to take control of our lives and consciousness, we must stop trying to convince others when it no longer gives us any good. We must think about our own well being, and embrace the fact that we all are memetically different. Only then can we truly appreciate what it means to be an individual, a distinct consciousness, and break free from the slavery of our memes.

We must choose our friends based on their set of memes, not on our hope to "convert" them into our perspectives. We must choose girls based on their set of memes (our emotions will do the genetical matching through the triggering of attraction). This is what variety implies: that we are all different, and we should look for both the similarities and differences we appreciate in others. Whatever it is we may be able to offer others, is up to them to decide. Whatever they have to offer us, is for us to decide. Some may not like us for our perspectives, and this is a good thing. Frustration is the only thing we gain by not accepting this fact. Here's another way to put it (that I personally don't like but may help some of you): the prize we pay for being free of our memes control over us is letting others decide how close to us they want to be, based on whatever criteria they have. Instead, we will focus on our own decision making with regard to other people. It is never about what we can get, it is about what we want. This is the principle of choice.

If we treat others like we would like to be treated (the golden rule), we are assuming that others are, or should be, like us, which violates variety endorsement. By showing others what we value, and by finding out what they value, we can treat others like they want to be treated. Whenever this is impossible because differences in perspectives imply different principles (conscious rules for behavior), we must accept these differences and find theequilibrium point. This could mean that we only interact with certain people in a specific context (where our principles will not collide), such as drinking buddies, coworkers, FBs, or nothing at all. This is the principle of respect.

Core Stability

As pointed out earlier, your core memes have to match each other. Inconsistencies disrupt the stream of consciousness, because it causes confusion. It makes us wonder what choices to make in situation that would otherwise be trivial? Confusion arises because of an internal conflict of will: some memes emotionally pull you in one direction, others in another. The less suchinconsistencies, the less internal conflicts, the less confusion. We become more decisive, and feel more complete.

The immediate implication of this realization is that you can't squish every meme out there into your brain. Guys that are into self development are especially open minded when it comes to new ideas, making them prone to try out pretty much any meme out there. Critical thinking is low or non-existent, requirements for truth and even usability are preferably but anything will do in the hope of achieving something. With this point of view, you become memetically desperate.

There are many ways in which you could fail to have a solid core: you could have a large pool of memes, of which none are really core memes, because you lack certainty/conviction. Or you could have a large pool of disconnected memes, giving plenty of small insights here and there, but no perspective. Or you could have lots of core inconsistencies: things just don't fit together, although you are trying really hard to make them fit, hence misunderstanding at least one of the perspectives. These three problems - disconnectedness and inconsistency - occur because of a lack of efficient meme acquisition mechanism. By being memetically desperate, we are susceptible to the latter two problems: connectedness and consistency.

What happens is that you end up having two broken perspectives rather than one solid whole. The first is worth less than a blank slate, whereas the second is the ideal. Why then, do so many guys end up with the broken parts? As mentioned, memetically desperate people want to absorb as many good memes as possible. The problem arises when there is an additional meme: the belief that memes cannot do any harm. It's strange to provide arguments for why memes can harm you in, since there isn't any reason to believe that they wouldn't, considering the facts that memes are indifferent about your well being and we all agree they have the power to change the way we think.

Just like a random gene, or a random computer program, doesn't necessarily do any good to it's host, neither to the memes. We avoid installing unknown software on our computers because we have been taught that there is harmful software. But it is really something they had to learn; it just doesn't come automatically. The analogy is obvious: most of us, not being meme experts, do not understand the potential danger some memes have.

Unfortunately, the problems don't end here. The "memes can't harm" belief is not one people hold with great certainty. They don't keep thinking "memes can't harm, so I'll try them all". They just never think about it that way in the first place. New memes are introduced, and there is no resistance - they are inhaled like air. The explanation is probably this simple: as children, we can't afford any resistance, because we have to learn, and we have to learn really fast. Given that our parents (for the vast majority of the time) mean us well, the optimal (gene) strategy is to have no memetic defence at all. As we grow up, we become somewhat more memetically stable (because of an inherent need for some level of consistency), but some of us aren't satisfied with their memetic core. Typically, this is because society - their parents, teachers, siblings, upbringing - failed to provide them with a solid core foundation. So they need to do what children did a long time ago: install a memetic core, only this time they'll have to do it themselves. This is the essence of it: realizing you don't have a solid core makes you memetically desperate. Not having a solid core also makes you memetically unstable, because there are no memeplexes that stabilize incoming memes. You absorb anything, and change in any direction. The memes are in effect controlling you.

The Meme Sceptic Meme

The solution is to install the "meme sceptic meme", which states the following:

"Whenever you encounter a meme, carefully consider the effects this meme will have on you based on your current memetic core. Assume that a new meme could be harmful until proven otherwise. That they spread fast, meaning that many people have it, is no proof of being it being a "nice" meme. It only means that the meme is good at replicating itself."

The sceptic meme adds a control mechanism to the process of acquiring new memes: there is both selection, where the meme sceptic meme is used to examine and screen new memes, and installation, where the memes get properly installed for efficient use (so they are triggered whenever needed). Together, these two processes shape the meme acquisition algorithm: there is a concurrent development of both meme selection and installation.

The Meme Acquisition Algorithm

This Meme Aquisition Algorithm lays the foundation for learning the core five perspectives.

How do you install new memes efficiently? The answer lies in exploiting the same mechanisms as the memes you to spread themselves to you. In effect, it is about applying my escalation model to the theory of memetics.

Cognitive dissonance is one of the most fascinating and strongest mechanisms at increasing our compliance towards things. By considering the memes as sargers and you as the target in the escalation model, we have an interesting analogy: the memes are trying to make you more attracted to them, and whenever you invest in them it rationalizes into more compliance for the memes. In a world of information technology, where ideas are given, patented, and sold, the memes are in fierce competition for survival. Most of them died a long time ago, some evolved and fused into larger memeplexes and spread to the world through speech, text, images, audio, video, rituals, and war. The more we invest in them, the better they survive inside our brains.

You invest in your memes by thinking about them. The more you analyze them, the more you will feel them, the more convicted you will become.

An ever better way is to spread and discuss them with others. The more you are mentioning your memes to others, bringing it into discussion, the more invested you become in your memes.

This is how we consciously create more compliance for our memes, which is my definition of meme installation. But how do we become attracted to memes in the first place?

First, some necessary conditions are required: the meme must be logically consistent with your memetic core, since core memes hold personal value and conviction. In fact, this is best understood as various degrees of personal value:

Low: you understand the meme logically
Moderate: you can see how the meme fits or doesn't fit with your core
High: you have emotional attachment to the meme

Take the meme "most girls want guys to approach them". At a logical level, you understand what the meme means: it states that a majority of girls, presumably in bars and clubs, want to be approached.

On a moderate level, you can see how this fits with your current set of beliefs. Combined with the already installed meme "girls want to have sex as much as guys" would give a very different conclusion from the installed "girls are bitchy to guys they don't know". The expression the memes give - its logical/emotional conclusion - depends on your already installed set of beliefs. In other words, memes interact in memeplexes, and their phenotype is dependent on this interaction.

On a high level, you emotionally feel the meme. It's not just "most girls want guys to approach them". It's "Of course! I knew it already, most girls want guys to approach them, that's why they usually (insert any explanation based on previous experiences)".

Note that this algorithm is not the natural one people use: people, at least those who do hold interesting beliefs, are naturally convinced of some things without even realizing that they may in fact contradict other beliefs they hold. This is because they directly jump from "low" to "high" without passing the "moderate" filter: the flaw is to think that what sounds good is good (the meme desperate meme).

By using the meme sceptic meme, we have three things to check: is the meme self consistent (low), is it consistent with your meme core (moderate), does it provide you (not necessarily itself) with any benefit (moderate)?

The last check leads us to the concept of usefulness. People usually absorb memes depending on one criteria only: does this meme make me feel good right now? This is why retarded ideas like "just be yourself, don't change" propagate better than more productive ideas like "be your best self": the first one is easier to understand, it involves less work, and hence less pain. It pretty much says "stay in your comfort zone, right where you are" which indeed feels nice. We are tempted to look for easy, quick "feel good" fixes. These memes make you feel better now, but offer you nothing in the long run.

The meme sceptic meme provides a way of detecting useless and destructive memes; after screening them out, only the useful ones remain. The huge benefit we receive in the process of eliminating shitty memes is that once a memes has passed our sceptical tests, it becomes truly solid. I take the meme sceptic meme to an extreme, and it only benefits me: my core memes aren't threatened whenever someone comes up with another meme that sounds good, because I have already thought about it, figured out its flaws or inconsistencies (within my own core of course), and rejected it (otherwise I would already have installed it). The practical consequence is that memes get further divided into two categories: really good ones, and really crappy ones. The idea is a binary view on meme conviction: install it into my core, or throw it out. There is no middle way (but there is a switch of perspective as specified by Existential Dualism). Conviction, or rejection. I am left with one solid core instead of fragments from various different memeplexes that don't make any sense together. When memes don't make sense together, they obviously don't bring much usefulness, and will many times bring in more problems than they solve.

In a world of information, we are constantly bombarded with new memes. The core stability perspective not only protects you from harmful memes, it also creates a further segregation of memes, namely into the ones that will be inside your head and those who will never be. This creates a stronger conviction towards your own core.

If you have understood everything so far, I am now ready to synthesize this into the installation algorithm. Let us say you encounter a new meme X.

1. Get a logical understanding for X (by logically interpreting it).
2. Associate X with your memetic core. How does X fit with the rest? Together with your core, what are the new implications?
3. Identify past experiences you've had in which X may have been relevant.
4. Visualize how you behave with X in hypothetical (but common) situations.
5. Identify live situations in which X is relevant (e.g. in the field). Analyze the practical consequences of X: How did it affect your emotions? And consequently, your behavior? If X is a perspective: try out some of the principles implied by the perspective.
   
6. Experiment for a while: repeat step 5.
   
7. Start investing in X (thinking, spreading, discussing) to increase your own conviction.
8. Finally, having X nicely installed, relax and enjoy! X is now naturalized into your core.
   

Where does the meme sceptic meme come into play? I have omitted it from the installation algorithm above. The screening process comes in during each step. Compare with the above, and add the following intuitive rejection principle:

1. Reject X if self inconsistent.
2. Reject X if it's inconsistent with your own core or if it would become destructive.
   
3. Reject X if it has been destructive and there's no reason to believe it would do better now (it can only do better if your core has changed).
4. Reject X if you can't see yourself being congruent with X. If you say "no that's not me", then this meme is not for you.
5. Reject X if, after a repeated number of experiences, this meme does you no good.
6. Repeated tests on X according to step 5.
   
7. The meme has now been accepted. The meme sceptic meme is now turned off.
8. See above.
   

In other words, step 1-6 are both installation and control measures, where the meme is rejected when it doesn't do what it's supposed to do (in the sense discussed above). Step 7 is about strenghtening the meme (fully installing it). Step 8 is about letting go of your conscious behaviors surrounding the meme: get used to it being a natural part of you.

Reprogramming yourself

The memes installation I am further going to address is, of course, that of the core five perspectives. The good news is that core stability is a meme about how to install (and reject) other memes: so you don't practice to learn it: you just do it, and after practicing on installing the other core four, this one will automatically have been installed.

Look at the memetic acquisition algorithm above. I have already addressed the content (logical structure) of each meme. This is step 1.

The second step is for you to relate it to yourself. The core five are consistent and relate to each other in a very natural way. If you have memes that conflict with them, throw them out now. If you don't wish to do that, then you will have to realize that the core five will do you no good (not now at least) and stop reading my posts.

The third step is to identity past experiences with each of the core five. Can you see situations in which you've thought about them, or felt them, even if only in the blink of an eye? Have there been situations in which you would have needed them?

The fourth step is to imagine various scenarios. Take your sticking points. Got AA? Got problems escalating? Got problems extracting? I am going to guess that whatever sticking point you have, it comes down to fear on some level. Ninety nine percent of all sticking points do. How does the core five change your pain and pleasure center? What are the emotional implications of the core five in various situations? What usefulness do they bring you?

Step five is about trying out the principles that are implied by the core five. These are obvious to anyone who already has installed the core five, or that has a great capacity for deductive thinking. I will help you with the latter by stating the general principles implied: these are the practical consequences of the core five. I will give you these practical consequences in my next post(s). I want to warn you however, that understanding special cases like those I will give you will not automatically give you an understanding for the larger perspectives themselves. After all, the point is that you should understand them well enough to arrive at the proper conclusions yourself. The principles are there because we people have an easier time understanding general things by starting with simpler special cases. Ultimately, you are responsible for properly assimilating the core five.

The sixth step is simply a repetition of the above, until you feel comfortable with the new meme.

Step 7. Finally, start spreading the word! By Variety, you can't spread your memes in an attempt to convince others of your core. We don't serve our memes, they serve us. Memes exploit our rationalization and hence would want us to invest. We generally avoid spreading memes because it's only frustrating to try to change others. However, in this case, where we have been sceptical and finally want to absorb a new meme, it helps us to spread it because it creates stronger personal value and conviction. It is for our benefit, not the meme's.

And by the logic above, when the meme is installed (we have personal value and conviction), we drop whatever isn't in our own interest, which by Variety, means we don't try to spread it for the sake of spreading anymore.

In my next post, I will describe go into some very specific details on the fifth step of the meme acquisition algorithm above by giving you concrete examples of how to implement the core five. Because they are deeply interconnected, I will both give you examples in which one of the perspectives is separated from the rest, but also examples that rely on combining them.


Any comments welcome.