And here is the thing. About 90% of people have no clue what memes are and how they can be used. Not only is memetic engineering a real thing, people have been using it, intentionally and unintentionally, for at least as long as there have been propaganda campaigns and advertisements, and possibly as long as there have been memes at all, which is about as long as humans have been able to communicate with each other.
The reason I think education is important is I think people should learn to be critical of the memes they pick up and spread. That people should learn to examine the consequences of following beliefs and ideas that propitiate their lives. I am not saying memes are bad, I am saying people need to examine them more closely in their day to day lives, and understand the effects of how they change people's lives.
If you ask me, memetics is a lot more important then genetics. The process of evolution may have begun with genetics, but ever since communication is possible memetics has taken over as the primary driving force behind it for us. All of our technology, ideas, art, and so on that humans have developed is passed down memetically and evolves. It has gotten to the point where we are able to manipulate genes ourselves, and all sorts of ethical and moral questions have popped up about if we should or what we should do with it. Thus our memetic ideas are now directly influencing what we do with genetics.
Once most people realize memes exist though, and once most people see how to use them and how to make them spread, I think people as a whole will be a lot more resistant to dangerous or malicious memes, such as maybe ideas like "suicide is cool, kill yourself" or "Big Brother loves you, trust Big Brother". Because by critically examining our ideas we can see more the effect they have on us directly.
And yeah, this article is basically a bunch of memes too. But since no one reads my blog, I think they probably won't spread very far. Maybe if you like this idea, spread it around a bit for me? :3
Sorry I haven't been commenting like I used to. I don't know where I could even advertise the blog without it seeming like blatant advertising. I mean, I could just post it in /b/, but then you'd probably get mad at me, huh?
ReplyDeleteDon't advertise the blog, advertise the idea. I think thats more important. I don't even want credit, because I think that would be both arrogant of me and ultimately unhelpful to the spread of the idea if it was just some guy saying shit on a blog somewhere. Good memes need to be released and let loose, not tied to any one person or place.
ReplyDeleteIf I am the butterfly that starts the storm, that is enough for me, plus ultimately it proves me right. I think that is more important then personal involvement even if there is the risk that the idea mutates out of control. After all, if that happens I can always try again. :3