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This is Richard Brodie's Meme Central Newsletter. To
subscribe/unsubscribe, send mail to events@brodietech.com with
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the message body. Visit Meme Central at
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm. Books mentioned here and
others are available through the Amazon.Com Memetics Bookstore at
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/books.htm. Start reading VIRUS OF THE
MIND on-line, for FREE, at http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/votm.htm.
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LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
There has been a lot of discussion going on over in the "Church of
Virus" mailing list about the "Level 2" and "Level 3" of consciousness
that I describe in Virus of the Mind. The discussion has taken on a
comedy-drama of its own, with various participants claiming they are
not, in fact, real people, but rather characters being played by each
other. But questions keep coming up about what is meant by Level 3.
To backpedal a bit, Level 1 of consciousness is instinctual and
animalistic. Level-1 operators do not live by conscious philosophy.
Abstractions such as economics and physics are foreign to them. They
live with the hand they were dealt, not making much use of learned
philosophy.
Level 2, where most educated people operate, makes use of conceptual
tools to map out life and plan results for the future. Religions, the
scientific method, and all academic learning are examples of Level-2
structures. In Level 2, one's picture of the world gets clearer and
clearer. Often people will not break through to Level 3 unless and until
they have a life experience that invalidates and shatters their world
view.
Level 3 is characterized by the ability to flex your meme-space on the
fly; to use multiple models depending upon your purpose and priorities.
It's possible to gain an intellectual understanding of what this means
from Level 2, but probably not possible to really feel the impact of the
difference in life experience. The Level-3 mind has a great capacity to
hold dissonant, contradictory beliefs. (Einstein was said to have this
ability.)
Those interested in joining in the discussion in the Church of Virus
mailing list can find subscription information at Meme Central. The web
address of Meme Central appears at the top of this newsletter.
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REJOICE
Have you heard the new radio spot for "Rejoice" adult incontinence
garments? I heard it yesterday as I was driving up highway 167 in Kent.
Yes, finally there's an adult incontinence undergarment you can ... er
... DEPEND on? ... er ... ASSURE? ... er ... well, you can REJOICE! Is
anyone else getting annoyed that more and more everyday words are being
drafted into involuntary servitude as labels for old-age-infirmity
products?
By the way, their phone number is 1-800-KEEP-DRY. As Dave Barry would
say, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!
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MEMETICS DATA
Here are the number of hits for various words on the World Wide Web as
of 2/10/97, courtesy of Infoseek:
2,436,866 science
1,057,284 music
1,044,023 opportunity
942,469 love
709,810 food
490,656 Microsoft
339,558 sex
180,174 danger
163,450 virus
31,010 Darwin
5,827 Dawkins
5,583 Brodie
1,376 memetics
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RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS WEEK IS FEBRUARY 10-16
Good memes to spread, if you ask me.
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OBITUARY
"I cried because I had no shoes
till I met a man who had a nice pair of shoes
so I beat him up and took them."
Herb Caen 1916-1997
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EVENTS
Thu. February 13, 1997
Getting Past OK: a three-hour mini-workshop on how to have a fantastic
life! $29 plus $5 registration fee. Offered through Discover U in
Seattle. To register, call them at 206-443-0447.
Thu. February 27, 1997
Richard Brodie will be giving the keynote address at the American
Society for Quality Control convention in Los Angeles.
http://www.asqc.org
July 3-6, 1997
Richard Brodie will be a speaker and panelist at Westercon 50, the West
Coast Science Fiction Convention, in Seattle.
http://www.isomedia.com/Westercon/
All the best memes,
Richard
Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com +1.206.688.8600
CEO, Brodie Technology Group, Inc., Bellevue, WA, USA
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
Do you know what a "meme" is?
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com +1.206.688.8600
CEO, Brodie Technology Group, Inc., Bellevue, WA, USA
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
Do you know what a "meme" is?
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm