Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. — Marie Curie
A meme is the mental analogue of a gene.
A meme can go viral, just as prions can go viral.
However, this does not mean that a meme is a virus.
What is a virus besides something that goes viral?A virus is an entity that replicates inside the cells of a host.
The crucial difference between a virus and a self-replicating protein (say) is the degree of complexity of the entity. Viruses are tremendously more complex from a structural point of view.
Science is much more of a mind-virus, than a meme. Like both memes and mind-viruses, Science reproduces itself. However, Science is complex, structured, and has mutated over time to create variants of itself, which makes it much more like a Virus than a Protein/Gene. Complexity: Science has many aspects and complicated rules. Structure: Science has been written about at great length; it has an essence, not simply a form. Mutation: Surely the science practiced in Denmark is not the same science practiced in Peru. (Incidentally, this may be why it is so hard for folks to define science — because attempts at distilling its essence may run into cross-cultural disagreements).
Not all viruses are bad! Comparing Science to a virus does not mean that science is somehow evil. I believe that viruses have gotten a bad rap. Sure, they only want to reproduce selfishly, but they’re the bottom rung of life — one of the smallest known reproducing objects. Viruses don’t just cause illness, many of them protect us from illness. I believe that science is one such virus.
Science’s mode of infection is through application at the Academy. A host is brought to the Academy, and a Science is inserted into the mind of the student through a traumatic procedure known as “grading.” Various primal psychological forces are tied to the “grade” of a pupil, which are used to force the pupil to learn more and more complicated formulations of the world around him. When a formulation is found by the pupil to be inconsistent with known reality, the “teacher” suggests that it is perhaps a figment of the pupil’s imagination, or that Science hasn’t proved everything (yet!).
Science exists in symbiosis with its host. Just as the host society delivers it fresh minds to replicate itself in, so too does Science bestow benefits. By causing the infected entity to dutifully execute measurements and concoct theory in a reproducible manner, Science ensures that its host understands far more than is conveyed purely through the host’s base senses. The reproducibility of the measurements also ensures conformity over time and space, which gives the host a means by which to pass knowledge from generation to generation.
As mentioned before, Science mutates. Its structural definition is a set of rules regarding which types of behaviors are to be considered “Scientific” and which are not. For instance, measurement, the application of logic, and the use of tools of analysis are all considered “Scientific” behaviors evoked by the type of Science I have been infected with.
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This analysis raises an interesting question in my mind — are there perhaps larger structures which play themselves out in single minds and/or across minds? Are there reproducing multi-cellular organisms which pattern communities (say) against each other, providing benefits to their hosts? Is there a game we can play which is useful to our survival, as well as fun?
Ez Theory $$$ whatever — bZ
