List,
In the spirit of Corey's example, here's mine:
A lion has a newly killed meal. The lion has two urges, to kill again and
to protect the first kill (maybe he would be killed while he is confused
about these issues, but anyway...) The lion develops two competing behavior
patterns, a hunting pattern and a gathering pattern (to hunt the lion must
move around, to gather the lion must have stability*). Regardless of
"chance", no matter what the lion does (stays or goes) he is alternately
rewarded AND punished (rewarded for the one urge/behavior pattern,
simultaneously punished for the other). Internalizing this "threat" to
himself, the lion develops a sense of "possession" in order to
survive...develops an "understanding" that one might keep something while
simultaneously giving it up. The lion develops an *instinct* to maintain
possessions. His environment is conceptually re-ordered around this
developmental advance. Although the lion used to respond as if being hunted
and preserved by something greater...the lion now "possesses" a sense of
self. A new threat is perceived...safety concerns for self and the lion
survives by perceiving this new external necessity.
The meme is the pattern by which the external environment is conceptually
ordered. Since the survival of the individual is based on his interaction
with the environment *as it is perceived according to this pattern*, the
entire pattern is selected for by natural means...survival ability of the
*idea* of possession, reproducibility of the *idea*, etc.
In the example, the meme is "possession"...the dichotomy is "hunt",
"preserve"...the self-negating instincts are "protect", "nurture", the cause
is "self-as-deity", the behaviors are "punish", "reward"...the higher
ordered effect is "safety". All the components--hunt, preserve, protect,
nurture, self, punish, reward, and safety--form the meme of "possession".
This meme (a pattern which orders ideas) is passed on because it is
superior and because it has survival benefits. It acts on new hosts to
reorder their ideas according to the new pattern. A "meme chain" of these
evolutionary developments is at:
http://www.tctc.com/~unameit/chaingpg2.gif
*...the two patterns can't both be selected for evolutionarily, according to
Darwin, the strongest pattern will compete with the other and survive while
the loosing pattern will be selected against and will not.
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The world is all gates, all opportunities,
strings of tension waiting to be struck.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
