June 2004

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<itemid>2485</itemid>

<eventtime>2004-06-15 01:08:00</eventtime>

<logtime>2004-06-15 05:28:34</logtime>

<subject>I was wrong....</subject>

<event>

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the concept of Memes is overplayed. Oh, there is no doubt that they exist, I mean "La Macarena" PROVES that an idea, a fashion trend, moved from person to person like a mental virus. There is something similar in genetics, its called a "Transposon". Its basically a 'selfish gene' that-so far as we know-generally takes up space and does little by itself but replicate itself or remove itself from the gene and move it to another part of the gene. Many geneticists think that these 'parasite genes' are actually one time viruses that have incorporated themselves into our system and become replicated over time. However, I firmly believe that Memetics is a dangerous science. In the early 1900's, 'magnetism' was believed to be the cure for everything. In the 1930's-1950's 'atomics' was the magic pill of the day. Both were remarkable breakthroughts in mankind's paradigm, but I think it safe to say that most people would agree that an 'atomic pill' isn't going to cure the common cold. My point is, Memetics is something new. It's like the wind. You can point to the wind and explain to even the most ignorant that air has mass because it has an observable tangible effect. To the same degree, you can point at a meme as an observable pheneomena in the physical universe and say that it is the tip of the ice burg, that there is an entire mental plane that has yet to be explored or discovered. Curious thing that, because when you describe the numerous accounts of people getting 'chills' in horrific places to justify or explain the nature of a spiritual reality they deny you as an unscientific quack. Granted, test results often prove inconclusive at best, but when you believe that the very nature of the spiritual plane of existence is to screw that kind of thing up it becomes understandable why a serious scientist will throw his hands up in the air and say, "Why not just say that Lightbulbs come from fairys instead of electricity?" They have a point...and more importantly that is somewhat tangental to what I am discussing in the Codex. I have my spiritual beliefs...I'm happy to share them in another forum, but that's not why I am here. I am here because I'm a humanist...granted...I'm a DEIFIC humanist, but a humanist nevertheless. I believe in the power of man, and the power of the individual. I believe that indeed the 'Philosophy of God' IS the empowerment of the individual, for otherwise why else would He permit evil to exist? At any rate.... The problem with the popular concept of memetics-specifically larger issues of things such as religions, governments or concepts (like Democracy) being reduced to memes is that we reduce the value of our own choices. In my first entry, I posited the existence of memes as a way of looking at the world on a mental plane, a way of understanding that ideas can be just as fluid as a virus can. However, the difference between a virus and a meme is that the 'landscape' of the mental plane is composed entirely of human beings. A hundred years of psychology has posited quite thoroughly that the human mind is more than the concious. However, an even older philosopher stated "Cogito Er Sum.-I think, therefore I am." Our very EXISTANCE, our very perception of the world comes from reason and thought. I am not an illusion. I know that I exist. Yes, there are factors and forces at work that have shaped who I am. My genetics. My upbrining. BOTH of these have shaped who I am. HOWEVER, I am aware of both of these influences. The Heisenburg principle applies to thought as well as elementary particles. By KNOWING that I shaped by these forces, I am automatically thus influencing myself independant of them. To deny this is to deny my existance. I KNOW I exist. Thus, I also know that I am capable of shaping my existance indepentant of that which has occured previously to me. To me, the concept of free will and sentience are hand and hand. Again I repeat, I am not an illusion. I might be affected by 'La Macarena' but I posit that there is more to good and evil than a random collection of sundry memes that have slowly worked their way into larger memes. The concept is an interesting one, however regardless of where the transposons came from, they are NOW but a part of the human genome. The human genome exists...because it creates humans. The origin of thoughts and concepts is an interesting one, but irrelevant to the concept of something greater than the sum of its parts. The mind scape is the human mind scape...at least until we learn to speak Dolphin. As such, since I am aware of my own thoughts, I am capable of understanding and therefore affecting my own thoughts. That means I am accountable for my own actions. You cannot blame or excuse the behavior of an individual on his society or his past, not when he has been educated better. That is why we teach people to read. Furthermore, ignorance of the law is no defense. If an individual has the chance to advance themself and does not take it, they are just as accountable as the person who used that chance to learn and become something more than what they are. As with all things, this is a spectrum. If, through ignorance or violence, the right to advance or learn has been taken away, it is no mighty suprise that ignorance will be passed on to the children. I speak not of blame. I speak of responsibility. There is a difference. Blame can spread around to as many people you can point a finger at. Responsibility is something that only a person willing to become something more than what they are is willing to take upon themself. Action is mediated somewhere between the two, for there is no one of us perfect in the mortal world.

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