In a message dated 98-11-17 19:57:09 EST, Kathry Aegis writes:
> At 08:14 AM 11/7/98 EST, GBurch1@aol.com wrote:
> >This is something I've been thinking about for a long time. How do we
help
> >people like women in Afghanistan, or peasants in Indonesia, or all of the
> rest
> >of the folks who are cut off from the information revolution? I've
> envisioned
> >a technology that could help, something I call a "Brain Seed".
>
> I've finally read your posting carefully, Greg, and I do appreciate the
> sentiment that you and Spike express. I think, however, that many of the
> postings on this thread have been based upon the assumption that this
> particular culture of women in Afghanistan are illiterate and largely
> ignorant of their own rights. This is, unfortunately, not the case. A
> significant portion of these woman are highly educated, they are doctors
and
> lawyers and professional businesswomen. They worked hard for many decades
> to improve their status. Now they find themselves completely imprisoned
and
> beaten in the streets when they attempt to carry out the daily business of
> living. The streets are policed by uneducated young thugs who have been
> offered power through a fundamentalist religious regime. Any men who
> support the women seem too intimidated by the threat of force to speak out
> openly.
>
> I have trouble envisioning how a memetic bomb or plant can alter the
> situation. Who would you aim it at? The women are already fully educated
> as to the direness of their own plight. They have, at great risk, spoken
to
> western reporters and to social researchers who have carried their story to
> the world. The young men who police the streets are for the first time
> being given influence in their own society. What incentive do they have to
> take on new ideas that would remove them from a position of high status?
> The Taliban leaders have been fighting long and hard to take power in their
> country, and it goes without saying that they would not relinquish it
> voluntarily. Have I missed something about this idea?
Good point, Kathryn. The targets for memetic warfare really aren't the oppressed people in this situation; the proper target is the oppressors. As someone else (?) pointed out, perhaps the best memetic warfare is simply to show these ignorant kids what life is like in a free society. For the most part, they may be so brainwahsed that they will misinterpret most of what they see, but a begining can and should be made. Over time, it may well corrode their conditioning.
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<burchg@liddellsapp.com>
Attorney ::: Director, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must
be driven into practice with courageous impatience."
-- Admiral Hyman Rickover