> > Note the similarity between "movements" and regal strategies, and
> > traditions/idea currents and kalyptic strategies. A movement seeks to
> > expand its base, becoming more able to influence more people. They
> > often seek to retain something of an ideological purity (which often
> > results in them splintering into mutually competing sub-movements). An
> > idea current has no real drive to expand, it spreads to hosts that can
> > accept the meme and have little need for orthodoxy. If Fog's model is
> > correct, then we should expect movements to appear in memetic niches
> > where it is possible to gain many converts, but there is also plenty
> > of opposition, and idea currents in memetic niches where it is not
> > easy to gain new converts, but little opposition.
[snip]
> From the standpoint above, CoV fits into the scenario proposed for a
> k-strategy, not an r-strategy. There is no substantial threat to
> memetics as far as I know, not in the public's eye -- it is usually
> unknown or when known considered either wierd or overly mechanical,
> but not actively opposed. There is also no "obvious" reason to
> convert to a memetic point of view, as people generally consider their
> lives to be getting along well enough without too much introspection
> and analysis (what percentage of people browse through the science
> section in Barnes & Noble, compared to the self-help books -- not to
> mention the romances?). We find ourselves in a position akin to the
> k-strategy environment: our memes cannot easily expand into other
> meme-pools (hence the debate about the banner ad), there is little
> active opposition to us, selection for positive effects of infection
> is a general effect of debate on this list, and there is little need
> for keeping the variants of the meme similar -- which the discussion
> here actively works *against*.
First off I'd just like to say, "Wow! Great post!"
It occurs to me at this point, that if we seek to actively build useful
memes, it might be wise to take a sort of an animal husbandry approach;
controlling the selection pressures placed on different pools of memes in
order to breed for the characteristics we desire from them.
To this end it might be wise to harbor separate factions (or, dare I say
"Levels") in CoV that would have different structures depending on the
type of memes we would desire to manufacture from them. For example, since
we all want to be happy and have CoV enrich the lives of everyone it
touches, it would serve us well to employ a K strategy for this task. As
Sandberg writes (emphasis mine):
> K strategies among memes (called kalyptic by Fog) appear when the meme
> cannot easily expand into other meme-pools and there [is] little danger
> for it. In this case it becomes more important to keep the hosts of
> the meme interested in it, **so*selection*for*positive*effects*of*being*
> *infected*will*occur**, there is little need for keeping the variants of
> the meme similar etc.
This would be a small, isolated and devout group who are actively engaged
in the creation and growth of doctrine. Those who would be charged with
keeping the precepts of CoV alive and current, and in whom preservation of
the thrust and mission of CoV would be entrusted. This would contribute to
the selection for more hearty, complex memes within this group and for
memes which fill their adherents with a sense of belonging and purpose.
At the same time, it would be simply selfish to keep all these
meme-structures and their positive side-effects to ourselves. So there
needs also be a CoV aspect that employs the r strategy as well:
> Memes that can quickly spread but also are in constant
> danger due to predation from other memes, unreliable vectors or
> attacks from opposing memes would follow a r strategy, something Fog
> calls a regal strategy. Regal memes tend to emphasize the importance
> of proselytization, defence of the memetic in-group and homogenity of
> belief - it is more important to spread the meme than [like] it.
This side would be the more plebeian side of CoV. Loaded heavily with
<danger>, <fear> and <evangelize> memes and instilled with the mission to
save the world through "the enlightened message of CoV." If some of the
members of this pool were lost to the cause it would be a reasonable
expenditure of resources as long as the rate of growth could be optimized
within this group.
Hence, my friends, it seems only reasonable that the course of action
called for is the creation of two sects with CoV:
The priest class, or the venerable Ordained Vectors,
and the layman-evangelist class, those members of the Memetic Jihad.
(And we may have stumbled upon a memetic explanation for the internal
structure of virtually every religion, from catholic bishops to that of the
Inunnit Eskimo's shaman at the same time as well.)
-Prof. Tim