memetics

Frames of Reference

Submitted by John Winkelman
on Sat, 03/09/2002 - 19:00

I was rearranging my bookshelves today and came aross one of my old college texts, a small novel called Flatland . The story takes place in a two-dimensional world, told from the point of view of A Square. At one point A Square is visited by an extra-dimentsional visitor: a sphere. The sphere takes A Square on a tour of the dimensions, from 0 up through 3, and maybe even 4. I forget; I last read the book almost ten years ago.

One concept which I still find fascinating is one of the incidentals to extra-planar travel (as described in Flatland) -- namely, that from the point of view of dimension n+1 , an observer can see into the middle of a solid which resides in dimension n . Consider: from the point of view of the 3-dimension world in which we exist while traveling through 4d space, we can see into the middle of a 1d (line) or a 2d (plane) object. A square, seen from within it's own dimension, is a line. A line, seen from within its own dimension, is a point. And a point(0d) is the only thing which exists within its own frame of reference.

So an observer in 4d space would be able to see into the middle of a 3d object. This intuitively makes sense. Assuming time to be the fourth dimension, pick a point at a particular location in space and time, and watch: When a 3d solid intersects that point, the part of that solid which occupies that point will be visible.

And, as these thing go, I have been reading more on memetics, and the points of view of the inhabitants of Flatland, when encountering an occupant of Sphereland , correspond with a concept I studied briefly in college -- memetic engulfment .

Memetic engulfment is that which happens when you get so caught up in your your self-reinforcing world-view that you forget that what you see and experience is not the entire world. I studied this in the context of The University, and the idea that the what was taught -- the experiences and information imparted to students -- was becoming more and more removed from what was actually necessary for existing in "the real world". The University Meme slowly crowds out the rest of the world.

But all of that was a long time ago, and now I wonder if, given the appropriate metaphors and practices, a person could perceive, with 3d sensory apparatus, the 4d world from the point of view of a 5d frame of reference. In other words, perceive the flow of time, from outside the flow of time...

And if you managed it, how would you get back?

Tags: 
mathematics
philosophy
books
memetics

Memes on the Mind

Submitted by John Winkelman
on Tue, 01/01/2002 - 19:00

Tech link works now.

Having read the first chapter of The Meme Machine, I am now adding The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci to my list.

In brief: A meme is a unit of information, the mental version of a gene. Memes may be transmitted via communication and imitation, in essence "infecting" the recipient with this information, which may then be transferred to another, and so on. The method of transfer may be any medium. For purposes of my research I am focusing on direct, person to person, as biological viruses spread. Therefore, absent a hard medium such as a book, cd, or electronic file, memory is used instead.

Since genetic drift is a given fact, mutation of the meme must occur, but this mutation can be lessened by using tools, "mnemonics", to build associations between the meme in its original form and information already stored in the recipient. For instance: nursery rhymes. We may forget what every billboard said on the way to work, but we remember, to a large degree, every nursery rhyme we learned as small children. Adding simple rhythm and melody to information gives it immediate context, therefore it is more likely to be retained.

Question: to what extent is this tool knowingly put to use in the world around us? Jingles on the radio come to mind. "Na-bis-co!". "By MEN-in!" Short, catchy tunes, three notes, four beats, mathematically precise, the tune inseparable from the message. Ergo, via viral transmission, a meme. Nabisco and Mennin have been introduced into the bio/data/memory sphere.

Hypothesis: Bastardization of Occam's Razor: (1)simple answer is better, easier to understand, easier to slip in to borderline subconscious. As in childhood songs, etc.etc. Even "alphabet song" is sung to rhyme and meter.(2) Moments of decreased conscious/ increased subconscious activity (hypnotism??) Witness the song which awakens us in the morning, which remains, half-heard and half-remembered throughout the day, popping up to annoy us during moments of mental distraction.

Conclusion: Melody and rhythm have been used for thousands of years as mnemonic devices. Christian churches use song/chants to teach. (Did any of the OT rhyme in the original Greek? Does the Nag Hammadi rhyme in Aramaic?) A huge number of Chinese aphorisms/folk wisdom sayings rhyme. Also in the west: "Red sky at night, sailor's delight/Red in the morning, sailors take warning". The power of a meme is directly related to medium. Next question: which is more powerful, context or medium?

Tags: 
memetics
science