Memes and Mobs

Memes and mobs

Memetics is the buzzword nowadays. The idea of an idea being impregnated in the brain and following a trajectory towards its own evolution seems to be interesting but the rationality is debatable. Working on the assumption of ‘survival of the fittest’, we need a formal definition of ‘fit’. Some authors take the example of Beethoven’s fifth symphony and the four notes as being propagated as memes, but they can be classified as gentle and harmless memes, the various anecdotes and fables can also be classified in this category.
What is truly interesting is the nature of memes which are usually in a hibernated state and go full throttle only after reaching a threshold state. I’ll take an example.

Consider the behavior of a lynch mob. Usually consists of people who are as ordinary as you and me. What exactly happens that some harmless fellow beings turn violent all of a sudden? Talking in the Indian context, communal riots have always been a part and parcel of India’s existence. What exactly happens that your next door neighbor turns a murderer? Can external provocation turn humans into animals? Do the violent memes also get passed on? If yes, have they evolved so much that they usually live in your mind as vestigial memes but turn dynamic when they want to?
I call them Vmemes and Dmemes. There is tremendous scope for further research in memetics if we are to consider the group behaviour. A lot many questions need to be asked and answered. I’ll continue reading on the topic and keep my readers armed with any new development.
The article on memetics on Brent Silby’s page. Good read.

Fallen not beaten ..

It’s a blind alley; or rather it’s an intensely lighted one. What difference does it make? You still have to strain your eyes to reach the truth, to walk the way. Nonetheless I am running, as fast as I can, groping for some air and tearing away the unnecessary burden. It’s not easy to tear it away. It’s not easy to run, but I haven’t sought the easy route ever before.
I fall and bruise my knees.
What is it that everybody calls emotion? To sacrifice yourself in the pyre of someone who’s already dead? Who doesn’t know whether it’s a guinea pig or a human life being burnt for his lifeless body? I let my mind rule my senses and start running again.

I am slapped and I fall again…I bruise my elbows.
How is it possible that the senseless and the mindless are allowed to rule over those possessing the ability and spirit? What is the value system according to which everybody acts? Am I supposed to love everyone? Am I supposed to negate the basic premises of human existence?

I get up and run……I end up in slush and muck and I fall….my eyes are burning with filth.
What am I supposed to answer when they ask me the reasons of my happiness? When my relations are not happy, am I supposed to be happy? Am I supposed to celebrate my victories when they are failing?
This time, I am not able to run. Not even walk. I am stuck, not able to move an inch forward.
For how long am I supposed to take it on myself? The constant throbbing of nerves gushed with blood tells me not to stop, not so easily.
I won’t let them win. Not now. Not until I give my consent and that would be when I accept my failure. But u see, I am not meant for failures.
It’s getting a bit clear….the muck doesn’t matter. Not that it has ceased to exist. Just that I have ceased to admit its existence.