Foundational Memes
Hey, everyone.
I'm working on my book and I'm currently writing about memes. Specifically, I'm writing about which memes form the cultural foundation of the Takers and the Leavers.
These are the lists of foundational memes that I've come up with so far.
THE LEAVERS
- Live in accord with the Law of Limited Competition
- Take only what you need and leave the rest for other species
- Live in the hands of the gods
- Give as good as you ge, but don't be too predictable
THE TAKERS
- Pursue the annihilation of all competitors
- Pursue unlimited growth at all costs
- Produce a surplus whenever and wherever possible (same as unlimited growth meme?)
- Make your living through totalitarian agriculture only
- Make everyone you encounter make their living the way we do whether they like it or not (because it is the best way to live/we’re meant to live this way)
- Civilisation should not be abandoned under any circumstance
What I wanted to know from all of you is if you feel this list is exhaustive of if I've left out any important ones?
I need to make something clear. In my work on memes I've realised that memes are instructions. As such, they need to be worded as instructions. For example, "Growing all your own food is the best way to live," is NOT a meme because it is not an instruction; it's more of an opinion. But, "make your living through totalitarian agriculture only" IS a meme because it is an instruction.
Also, what I mean about foundational memes is that A - these memes form the comparative difference between the Takers and the Leavers and B - Takers would not be Takers and Leavers would not be Leavers WITHOUT these memes.
Anyhoo, let me know what you think and let me know if there are memes that I've missed.
Peace and Love and Empathy,
Matt
A similar exercise
Here was my attempt at it:
Leavers
Eat
Unity
Community
Tradition
Trust
Our Way is a Right Way
This memeplex is reflected in the Taker memeplex, but blurred so it becomes:
Takers
Consume
Alone
Superior
One Path
One Truth
Our Way is the Right Way
None of these structures in the Taker segment require totalitarian agriculture but they spring from it and enter into a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
Some of the concepts address some of yours above. For example, if this is the one path we're supposed to be on, then you don't abandon it because there ARE no other worldviews.
Best
Bill Maxwell
ON EDIT: One thing for us all to keep in mind is that the experience of the Takers must be construed by them as a "net positive" for them to keep going. The easier way to put it is "This sucks, but it's better than the alternative." My brother once put it that he wouldn't abandon it because he wanted to see "What's next" (what he would discover / invent / etc.) and it was a waste to return back to "The Stone Age" (assumptions of disease, death, destruction, and the wholesale devouring of humankind by the Red & Green worlds)
"Change comes from giving up the myth that you are in control."