Guide:
I. Introduction
II. Components of thinking
III. Mechanisms of cognition
IV. More mechanisms
V. Types of memes
VI. Meme2Meme2Gene interactions
VII. Human2Human transmission
VIII. A Bigger World ← you are here
IX. Gravity of 'plexes
X. Three is a crowd
XI. Third scenario
XII. Religion and philosophy
XIII. Mental disorders of the new age
XIV. True vs Fake
XV. Outsourced Me
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What do you call a planet without oxygen? No-O-sphere.
I'll see myself out.
The joke is terrible, i know, just think of it as a milestone we successfully passed. Gotta mark our achievement, for we have traveled far. And it's also a segway into me again increasing the scope of things we talk about. Well, not "we" - i. But enough rambling.
1.A whole new world~
The word of the day is "Noosphere", another term i borrowed from people probably smarter than me. It's original meaning is "The informational field of Earth", if i understand it correctly, and is supposed to be put in the same line as lithosphere and atmosphere. Definitions are a bit blurry, so i might be wrong. Regardless, i'm taking it, because it sounds close to what we have here and what i'm about to describe.
Remember what an "Infofield" is? If not - it's the area your senses reach plus what they can reach. The sum of all memes you are currently collecting plus all the potential ones you could be getting if you just moved your head around, touched something else, listened to something else.
Now expand this field to include every potential meme in the world. Okay, no, bad definition, because otherwise we will have to deal with the map of the whole observable universe. Let's not, it's 800 yottas big, and the memes it would mostly contain are of interest to some minority intersection of astronomers and memeticists, also known as crazy people. Let's limit the scope to the planet Earth only plus maybe a Moon and the Sun, and the Vault of Heaven. You don't need to be an astronomer to look up and see the stars, so they are a part of the infofield. And they are regular contributors to human mythos, resulting in stuff like Moon Bunnies appearing in legends of both Mayans and Japanese.
Here's how a normal map looks like>
Here's the map of memes>
Every pixel is thousands if not millions of memes just waiting to be interpreted.
Okay, i'm kidding, let's make a proper map, or at least legible one. Some differentiation is necessary, because otherwise we'll get a complete chaos of information. Let's make it look something like this:
A multiple-layer cake of various types of memes, segregated based on their properties. Plus a layer of normal world, just so we can understand where it all comes from. The reality. Memetic is intrinsically tied to physical, so it must not be forgotten. Atoms need representation too. Layer zero.
Then there are two layers of memes, where our interest actually lies. The actual levels of memes.
Layer one of this cake depicts the information from your reality, as you are yet to perceive it. If a tree falls in a forest and makes a sound, even if there's no one to get those memes, they are there, ready to be interpreted by anyone willing and daring. Just as atoms make up the fabric of reality, so do the memes are littered everywhere, describing this fabric.
Let's call that layer "Bound memes" - for they are tied to the real things which they describe. "Colour" and "Sound" memes don't just float in the ether, they represent something and are inherent to it. And all of them are of the "potential" status. Like colours “grey” tied to stones in some park.
Second layer is the sum of all human knowledge - the memes that are interpreted already, making them known and usable. "True" memes. "Interpreted" memes which are residing inside of human heads. Everything your grey matter contains is a part of that layer.
Do the same for every other celestial body and you are set.
Sounds simple enough.
There is one thing though - a third layer of the noosphere exists. Sort of. To explain it i would need to peel off so many layers of reality and dive deep into levels of abstraction even i'm not prepared to tackle fully yet. There were better people than me that dealt with it already.
Regardless, the name of this layer shall be "Hyperreality". The domain of memes unbound by their physical constraints. Some long time ago creature learned how to alter it's signal to communicate things unrelated to it's immediate environment, and things haven't been the same ever since.
Think of the radios, television, phones, and even internet - it's all an ever-improving system of transmission of information, but as a side effect it all creates an alternate "space" thoroughly intertwined with our real world, where information is stored and is moving through amazing distances. Memes do float in the ether, and the ether is located at Google servers. And other servers too.
Information doesn't like the constraints of the human mind and reality in general, so it seeks to unbound itself from it's roots, so information stops being tied to it's meaning, to the mechanics of the mind, and the limits of virality. And it achieves that by changing the vessel for itself. Humans don't quite work, being in constant competition with the genes is suboptimal, so technology is the solution.
What technology? Well, memes are working on finding that out. But the space for those "transcended" memes has a name - hyperreality. Every photo is "hyperreal" pattern of a thing it depics, every painting is "hyperreal" pattern of a thing it represents, every map is "hyperreal", every word is "hyperreal", every perfume and vegan food is "hyperreal" representations of the real thing, which attempt to spread by detaching themselves from the shackles of the real object they were bound to.
Still, while the idea of “Mona Lisa“ were successfully unshackled from their point of origin and tied to a picture, ensuring their longevity through eons, these memes are still tied to an object - a painting. Which can be replicated, yes, but it’s still a replication via construction of the physical medium - memes want more. Why i listed the third layer not as “Hyperreality“, but as the “Internet“? Because i’m too lazy to fix that mistake i made in the past, so it will now serve a bigger point - the internet’s ability to deliver information fast and efficiently. Watch:
One day we will be able to deliver hamburgers to each other like we deliver Pepe pictures. Gonna taste like freedom. But memes, while became dependent on this new artificial environment, also gained an ability to be everywhere, while being nowhere at the same time. There’s no definite “source“ for them anymore.
2.Traces of civilization
Meme layers. The Noosphere.
Layer one is simple on it's surface, everything i could say about it was already described when i talked about how infofield works. And so is layer two. So let's not waste time on talking about them any more than it's necessary, and pad out the paper's length through other means.
You see, the purpose of this "layering" was to help you see the contents of the map better - just covering everything in dots won't do, even if it's amusing. "Layers" should help to distinguish the memes by how removed they are from their "source", but additional categorization is necessary, which means i'm going to split more things into two. Atoms make physical world, and memes make a noosphere, right? Right. Let's up the complexity slider. Atoms also combine themselves into molecules, which also construct reality, while memes assemble themselves into memeplexes, both forming the noosphere. Sounds accurate, right? Right. And just like molecules have more complex properties and reactions and types compared to just atoms, memeplexes are more complex than memes.
Like some composite materials can't be found in the nature, some memeplexes are "man-made" too - nature doesn't have a concept of a "fork", or "microphone", or "internet", or a "stool". Sure, there maybe some simple things out in the nature like a "container" or "holder", but here's the thing - animals grow and evolve, and just as they become more complex, so does their behaviour, and sooner or later they learn that they can modify some elements of their environment to their advantage, and so they start transforming the reality. And since physical informs memetic - noosphere changes too.
When a crab started to wear poisonous plants on it's shell for defence - he altered the noosphere. When a human started to sharpen rocks - he created a whole catalog of ideas. There are memeplexes out in the wild of all sorts of kind, but some of them are a product of complex interactions of creatures with the reality. They are "man-made". I know, i used animals as an example too, but remember who we are focusing on.
An example: a flower bed. In reality, it's a unit of soil with flowers in a box, in noosphere it's collections of various memes, banded together, creating memeplexes we brand as "flowers", "box", "soil" and whatever else. "Flower" is a "natural" memeplex, "box" - "artificial"/"man-made".
Homo sapiens create information as much as they create anything else.
Noosphere isn't made of only patterns, - there aren't just flowerbeds everywhere, someone made them somehow. And to transform one object into another we need another type of memeplexes, the type capable of changing the noosphere - programs.
They are a complex and varied bunch, and they too can be separated into three categories, based on whether they reduce, increase, or transform without affecting the quantity of information, but it's not quantifiable for now, so it's irrelevant. Let's focus on the basic abstract rules for now, rules that allow making flowerbeds out of various materials. Let's get this out of the way first: "info load" - a term which describes the amount of memes in any particular area. As i said, not quantifiable, and therefore pretty useless, but in some obvious situations can be applicable - a bare wall and a wall with a painting on it are rather easy examples.
Whether you defend yourself against a lion, are a lion hunting, making a flowerbed, or are the flower consuming nutrients from the soil and growing, - all the differences aside, these examples have one thing in common - they act. They transform the noosphere. Not all of it, just a small section, but a change happens and an infofield gets rewritten. Or let's think simpler - imagine a beach. Here's a simple way you can modify it's memetic make-up - build a sandcastle. Or even simpler - draw a dick in the sand.
Programs graze infofields like cows graze the grass, and at the end of the process you get manure. Or sculptures of Apollo. To act for a program is to live, a program not used is a program forgotten (not really though, muscle memory lasts), so a program is defined by it's ability to take the memes from an infofield, and change it into something else. Well, not really "graze", due to being bound to their host, but you get the idea. Bring your skillset to a right place and let it do it's thing.
3.Bioms of info
A consequence of being tied to cues is that activities are endemic to their environment, which permits their existence. Can't make sandcastles if there's no sand, but the abundance of sand also means troubles for practices related to farming - silicates aren't known for being hospitable to plants, so there's little space for related programs too. Living in deserts creates a brand of activities different from steppes and tundras, and abundance of animals means more acts related to them. Or to put it short - programs have habitats.
But they also create habitats for other programs too - a consequence of a program fulfilling it's job is the alteration of the infofield, remember? Which means a new pattern emerges other programs may feed upon. One person digs out a clump of iron, the other uses it to make an instrument, and than instrument is used to modify the infofield further - there are "supply chains" full of "symbiotic" relationships, each transforming the signal into something else. A whole ecosystem of co-dependencies can be created this way, where a signal can feed many more programs. Can’t even begin to imagine what habits farming has allowed to exist.
Just as there are habitats, there are also "ecological niches", if you can call them that, - the purpose of a habit isn't to just execute itself, even if it wants it, programs are supposed to assist their host in survival. Humans have needs, like need for food and safety from everything that endangers the human. Basic niches i can point at for now are: 1) Making food 2) Making tools 3) Making shelter 4) Defence from dangers 5) Building relationships; basically Maslow Pyramid. However, there's another type of actions which humans perform - artistic ones. Humans like looking at pretty things, so building pretty things is also a niche. Or to put it in appropriate terminology - transforming the noosphere so it signals fitting memes.
Since a lot of ideas exist due to act of observation, patterns too are tied to the area. To explain the world people have use their already existing knowledge, which they get from somewhere, so all concepts, ideas, myths, legends, stories, rumours - they are all "locally sourced". Unless you factor in the channels for exchanging information, but for memes to travel big distances takes time and technology, which weren't always available back in the day. It's possible for a concept of a mermaid to appear in more arid bioms, technically, but do you think the likelyhood of a half-fish creature increases with the growing proximity to large bodies of water? For the same reason you can't have Leshiy far away from forests, or Chupacabra without goats.
In one side of the world they make arches one way, in the different side - other way. In one side of the world they make decorative patterns one way, in other - differently.
Drop a bunch of dudes into a place, and they'll start adapting to it, and adapting the place to themselves. Instincts will provide a starting point, and the rest will be adjusted via memes. Don't forget to add some women too, to provide additional selection for genes and memes. Also i heard they are necessary for procreation, but i'm not certain about that. Let a few generations pass. Whatever's left, provided the group survives, becomes "culture". Every significant practice, every habit, every tradition, and all their little intricacies and details that make that group stand out from others - that's culture. A result of long process of selection, and mutation, and evolution of ideas, all iterating upon each other, dying and being reborn again. People there have "customs" and "beliefs" of how things are and what they should be, and what to do to achieve both.
Because of that some memes can be "invasive species" for the region, destroying old ways of things if left unchecked, or they'll just die off without leaving a trace. Or anything in-between. Dump a bunch of guns into some region of US and nothing changes, because there's already plenty of weapons everywhere; dump them in Japan - the package will get escorted away by the police; in Somalia - well.....
And that's just things to act upon, do you think the idea of using environmentally friendly tools and vehicles in Africa will go the same as in North Korea? Or how about France and Hungary? Look how the idea of Democracy was realised in DPRK, Russia, Spain, and Sweden. Noosphere is an ecosystem but that also means introduction of new elements can upset the balance to the point of it's destruction. It can also flourish if a new idea finds a good niche, but all in all - a caution is to be exercised when interacting with others. Remember "infohazards"? Do memorize them.
4.Time-space continuum of gossip
The meme's ability to reproduce over time is sometimes measured along two axis, using the terms borrowed from biology sciences: they measure "vertical" and "horizontal" spread of "infections", and the same can be applicable to memes due to similarities in "behaviour". Differences can be explained easily - memes with a good "horizontal" spread go far and wide, and infect many people all over the world, unless something serious blocks their ability. They cover good amount of physical distance. Think of any viral internet meme and you'll see an example of "horizontal" spread.
"Vertical" too tracks the spread, but over different distances - "vertical" memes persist through time, over generations. Think of traditions - they manage not only to get to people of the same period of time and events that made it be, but transcend it, being valuable for other generations too. And generations after that, and the ones after that.
Thanks to existence of TikTok and other versions of social media we can now safely conclude that memes with preference for horizontal spread don't go far in time, only space. Such is the fate of many an idea, failure to become endemic is commonplace, for reasons too as varied as the info-viruses themselves. Even your parents failed to make a lot of their lessons and experiences stick with you, so their memes will die with them. You'll repeat their fate, unless you'll crack the code of vertical transmission. Or just become immortal, that can work too. Good luck.
To illustrate: remember "planking"? Or "harlem shake"? Or even "flash mobs"? Chances are - no fad left a lasting mark on you. You can probably recall what those examples are, if you were exposed to them, but only because i brought them forth from the depths of your memory, on your own you wouldn't do it. Couldn't. "Oh, yeah, that was a thing" you probably thought at the moment.
Some do break through the barriers of generations, like "Christmas", "9th of May", "Hanukkah", or fairy tales you tell to children. The sum of ideas with some longevity, and which manage to leave the mark on the world become "culture".
But there is a way for generational spread which bypasses the barriers of generations in order to win more time, while possibly sacrificing the horizontal reach. The tactic is simple - somehow enmesh the "blueprint" for an idea somewhere in the noosphere. Like i'm doing right now. Example: books. Literary works are a chrysalis for ideas.
Because of such tactics some ideas are "leaping" - they lie dormant through time in the noosphere, without any person having those thoughts in their heads, untill a few generation passes and a person capable reads the book and understands it, becoming infected with a new material. Or he doesn't, and more time passes untill another falls victim.