Jack me in
Some time ago I gave in to the mostly life-stealing mind-numbing makeshift brain-blender that is television to watch a piece on National Geographic covering the moment in human evolution where man put down his club and decided to become a bit more social. The show reported that social-cognitive neuroscientists have identified a network of brain regions that are involved in human imitation. They showed a mother clapping hands to her little toddler in which the toddler responded with a similar action. The scientist where particularly interested in discovering the areas responsible for empathy. Continuing down the line of possible implications it was proposed that man survived not necessarily because it was the strongest, fittest, or even agile species to ever bless nature’s canvas, but possibly the most social. The benefits and success of cooperation can of course be seen in other species too like ants and bees, but instead of chemical control there is something more neurological at play like these regions of the brain.
A couple of months later I braved the devil again and saw another show on the same channel about the “big bang of the human mind” where it tries to uncover the point where mankind has transcended from its apelike nature into sentience. It made the compelling argument that the catalyst to this event is something we often take for granted, namely language. The purpose of language is to convey information from one mind to another through a system of signals like sounds, gestures and symbols. Through language the transfer of information take on many forms from gossip to instruction, from trivial usage to technical settings. Along with our neurological nature to imitate we use language to increase the efficacy of imitation by transferring information between minds in a more structured way.
Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme” that refers to a replicator of cultural information that one mind transmits to another. Examples of memes he used where “tunes, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches.” Other examples include deities, concepts, ideas, theories, opinions, beliefs, practices, habits, dances and moods which propagate within a culture. A meme propagates itself as a unit of cultural evolution analogous in many ways to the gene.
Some proponents to memes suggest that they function as the building blocks of a civilization. Where a civilization is a network of social relationships, memes evolve within it via natural selection on the premise that variation, mutation, competition, and “inheritance” influences their replicative success- for the betterment or detriment of society. Despite controversy involved in classifying memes as building blocks of a civilization, it is difficult to deny the meme of memes- mankind’s natural tendencies to share, copy and paste.
The success of the internet highlights our desire to exchange information as we can do so more freely. What I write today could be read by a student in Japan and influence what he asks his lecturer tomorrow. It is as if the Internet is a natural consequence of our need to connect and share information. As the world gets more connected information becomes more diverse, mutated and can be continuously accessed at faster rates. Borders are erased and cultures fused, bringing forth a new primordial soup of collective thought which could greatly influence the direction and ideals of a modern civilization. Collaboration efforts enabled by the internet and the growing influence the net has on society could, like language, be the first baby steps in evolution for the awakening of a collective-mind.
October 22nd, 2006 at 3:48 am
An interesting post, that leaves me to believe that we are all indeed already “Jacked In”
Information is spread across multiple platforms to other humans, along with it not only the meme or the information but the feeling and perception already processed by the new seed of that information.
Taking that into consideration a meme can be broken down quickly as its spreads from seed to seed, and the reverse is also true. It kind of reminds me of that game called broken telephone.
This idea or post of yourself here Shodan, as mentioned, could spread across to Japan and cause a change in another’s existence. Which in turn now causes a ripple effect into another persons life and so on…
The ripple effect of any of our ideas, perceptions, memes or information we spread to others cause ripple effects from one seed to the next. Think about it we are indeed a ripple in an effect of someone else’s perception, idea or meme. EG: A friend recommends a specific product you will try it. Or he slams a specific product you wont be to keen on trying it. This of course also the position of authority this person is to you comes into play.
In fact the position of authority plays a huge role here. Look at tv stars that smoke and drink promoting these activities converted allot of people to try them/ get addicted etc. It was played of with the status of being “cool”
Also is it possible that on some psychic level we are all “Jacked” into each others minds, thoughts, emotions, dreams and ideas? That we can share information already without a single word spoken or gesture preformed? That in some way we all are indeed already working together in a collective-mind?
October 27th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Afflict, by merely existing you are affecting the whole of humanity in some way or other. Using your ripple effect, a small seemingly trivial action you did today could make an impression on a friend that might affect his grandchildren greatly in the future. By existing you inevitably make a difference to all humanity, how big a difference one makes is almost impossible to measure because you need to take into account what the future holds. This is why it is important to take responsibility for your own actions (including words) and realize that this phenomenon alone connects us all to each other. Similar values are expressed in the “Ubuntu” ideology.
On a speculative note, it is not impossible that our sub-conscious mind is actually a pool of super consciousness that we are all connected to. That the reason why the sub-conscious mind is so powerful and when we use things like affirmations that they sometimes work because others are connected to the same sub-consciousness that we program. This could explain one of the reasons why creative ideas or answers to questions you wouldn’t normally get can suddenly pop-up in the shower or in your sleep. Psychologist and occultist Carl Jung termed it the “collective unconsciousness”. Devoting his life to the task of exploring and understanding the collective unconscious, Jung theorized that certain symbolic themes exist across all cultures, all epochs, and in every individual.