Toxic Memes? ( Archived) (62)

good night... from jdw45

Memes, as I understand it, have to do with what we accept as norms or conditioning or commonalities on a personal level, generated by word spreading or media coverage or accepted views and conditioning from birth.

"Memeticists argue that the memes most beneficial to their hosts will not necessarily survive; rather, those memes that replicate the most effectively, spread best, which allows for the possibility that successful memes may prove detrimental to their hosts."

This is a quote that scares me a little in that if it is true to any extent, then what we believe or think or accept as part of our personalities can actually harm us in a big way, suggesting that negative thinking takes off and personifys faster than positive thought.

It strikes me, in the thinking that all muslims are considered bad or have ill intent, or that is is ok to shoot people if they are not in your gang, or wearing the "right" clothes, we are personifying that as our reality.

These types of memes, accepted on a worldwide scale could end in the destruction of the planet as we know it, and negative memes about the environment or ecology getting worse are more widespread and have the potential to destroy what we eat and how we live etc., ending in the destruction of humanity.

If the professionals are right about this theory, then what we think and how much we commonly accept about our world is really important for everyone.

If this is the case, then we are generating our own wars, hunger, poverty, selfishness, disregard for our fellow beings and ultimately our own end and not in any good way, just by what we accept and think and believe.

I have long suspected that this might be true, but didn't have aname for the theory before. It's a sobering synopsis.

but, it is just that...a synopsis...a theory...with no scientific conclusions...all them will agree that there is no way possible to come to any conclussions in the study of the brain and how it works or does'nt work in these matters...although there have been spiritual teachings within several, if not all religions that promote the same thing....i dont know but, it does sound interresting to say the least....hmmmmm

Just from observing things, ( and I do a lot of that), it would appear that there is some credence to the theory though.

If it were proven to be true then we'd really have to censor thought andprojections not only in ourselves but in future generations......

Weird concept if you take that to it's conclusion and how it might be managed.

BN certainly pulls it out of the hat in the thinking department.

Memes are 'consciouness' replicators.

Consider a gene. Its sole job is replication as well.

They don't care how or why, they just want to replicate at any cost. Both genes and memes carry 'information' from one to another.

In light of the OP, the consciousness of young women these days is highly affected by the blast of "grown up' material available. Information that before the advent of the web wasn't as available.

We can blame it on soil contaminents, or drugs or a myriad of 'bad' companies; but, if you ignore that memes and genes, alike, carry information for the sole purpose of replicating themselves then you get lost in tunnel vision. it may seem wild to accept that yes maybe horomones are contaminating us, but why? Why do we dump toxic waste? Because we dont have a meme that says we're idiots for doing so, or at least not enough of those memes. We feed our memes and we want to pat attention to that, negative or positive, creative or destructive, they dont care.

Someone mentioned that this is not a meme because there is no imitation. Thats its mutation.. They are indeed imitating grown up behavior and the genes and horomones, biology follows suit. The mind is an extremely powerful tool.

I can mention lemons and how they taste when you bite into one and the juices hit your saliva and the sides of your mouth, and if you take one second to think about it, your mouth begins to water, puckering begins, probably already has before I said that. A simple information meme affecting a number of biological processes. Very important.

The definition is fine as it is me thinks. Life is totally about immitation and repetition (replicated). Memes affect evolution in all ways, just has genes do. Of course they mess up on occasion, because improper attention given to them by the host, but as I mentioned neither genes, nor memes give a dam that you care about them, they're going to do their best to replicate, even if it means altering biology and cosmology. They have no other purpose.

This is not theory. Its a new label I think for what I used to call 'thought seeds'. memeticists have taken the human genome project into the realms of the human consciousness to explain how we end up suffering the things we do. Why did Microsoft become more used than Apple (when apple is clearly a superior product) Advertising, subliminal, and overt advertising. Paid for memes (information)

I doubt memes have any concept of success and I would take issue with that word based soley on connotation. There are not many other words to explain how well they take hold though. Successfully toxic ? or is it?

Or PCB's - plastics

Yo capt'n Kirk!you Canadians watch too much star trek,


young girls used to reach puberty at 17 on average a hundred or more years ago. Now girls are growing breasts and some have their periods at 9 years old.

"they" scientists say that many man made chemicals in the food supply, air ans water mimic estrogen, and that is why girls are going through these changes at such an early age.

pesticides and herbicides mimic estrogen. Soy products do as well.

Don't they have Trolls in Sweden?....and now they have them on CS

Don't they have Trolls in Sweden?....and now they have them on CS