We’ve built a bunch of tools for instant mind-to-mind communication, with built in features that amplify communiques that are short, simple and emotional. Over the last ten years an increasingly large fraction of all interpersonal communication has passed through these “dumbpass filter” communication systems. This process has systematically favored memes that are stupid. When everyone around you appears to be stupid, it makes you stupid. Even if you aren’t on these communication platforms, your friends are, and their brains are being filled up with finely-honed, evolutionarily optimized stupidity.
My own habit is to ignore memes—I see them as low information mind candy. But your answer prompted me to discuss this with my son (16) who is consuming a lot of memes. I asked him what useful memes he knows and the ensuing discussion led to the following insights:
Memes are user-generated headlines. They give a succinct catchy summary of facts or circumstances—just without being accompanied by the actual thing they describe.
They have a very wide range of topics. And while they are often humorous, they can and do present useful and even scientific facts. Over time he has shown me quite a few of these. There were some about Elon Musk, relativistic speeds, psychological insights. I guess you can come up with nerd jokes that actually require quite a bit of background knowledge—and can prompt looking into it (see nerd sniping).
Memes can—at least in the case of my son—lead to a follow-up if they seem valuable. He gave the example of Trump and Covid-19 where he just googled the keywords and learned what the meme was about.
This will not lead me to consume more memes but I could imagine that they become part of the education or news-feed of the next generation. And not necessarily in the worst of ways.
By “meme” I mean Dawkins’ original definition. A meme is just any idea to which Darwinian selection forces apply. For example, a good idea will be gradually stripped of nuance and accuracy as it passes through the communication network, and eventually becomes dumb.
The evolution of memes only predicts successful memes to multiply, not that they become dumb. Actually, it implies many niches (in the communication network structure) where memes of certain types and specialization survive. Smarter people presumably prefer smarter memes.
We’ve built a bunch of tools for instant mind-to-mind communication, with built in features that amplify communiques that are short, simple and emotional. Over the last ten years an increasingly large fraction of all interpersonal communication has passed through these “dumbpass filter” communication systems. This process has systematically favored memes that are stupid. When everyone around you appears to be stupid, it makes you stupid. Even if you aren’t on these communication platforms, your friends are, and their brains are being filled up with finely-honed, evolutionarily optimized stupidity.
My own habit is to ignore memes—I see them as low information mind candy. But your answer prompted me to discuss this with my son (16) who is consuming a lot of memes. I asked him what useful memes he knows and the ensuing discussion led to the following insights:
Memes are user-generated headlines. They give a succinct catchy summary of facts or circumstances—just without being accompanied by the actual thing they describe.
They have a very wide range of topics. And while they are often humorous, they can and do present useful and even scientific facts. Over time he has shown me quite a few of these. There were some about Elon Musk, relativistic speeds, psychological insights. I guess you can come up with nerd jokes that actually require quite a bit of background knowledge—and can prompt looking into it (see nerd sniping).
Memes can—at least in the case of my son—lead to a follow-up if they seem valuable. He gave the example of Trump and Covid-19 where he just googled the keywords and learned what the meme was about.
This will not lead me to consume more memes but I could imagine that they become part of the education or news-feed of the next generation. And not necessarily in the worst of ways.
By “meme” I mean Dawkins’ original definition. A meme is just any idea to which Darwinian selection forces apply. For example, a good idea will be gradually stripped of nuance and accuracy as it passes through the communication network, and eventually becomes dumb.
The evolution of memes only predicts successful memes to multiply, not that they become dumb. Actually, it implies many niches (in the communication network structure) where memes of certain types and specialization survive. Smarter people presumably prefer smarter memes.
Thank you for increasing my resolve to ban certain websites.