virus: Reed wins Virion of the Week

Richard Brodie (RBrodie@brodietech.com)
Sun, 2 Mar 1997 20:41:07 -0800


Reed, who wins my award for most earnest participant on this list,
wrote:

>One of these memes is "conciousness", the virtual machine that most
>brains
>run. Are you saying is that this is a "virus of the mind" which is
>infecting us? That conciousness itself is not necessary? I have
>contemplated this, but not to any effect.

"Consciousness" is a meme, a label we put to a phenomenon we recognize.
But consciousness itself is an emergent phenomenon, not a meme, like a
word processor is not a machine instruction.
>
[RB]
>>I always go back to the question of am I living the life I want to live.
>>If the answer to that is "yes" I figure I'm in good shape.
>
>This is a satisfying answer? After you write a book about the ways
>people
>are manipulated without being aware of it? Do you have some
>particularly
>effective introspection mechanism? Is this a flip response?

I guess not. Yes. Yes. No.
>
>Again, your self-description strikes me as cognitively complacent. "I
>am
>living the life I want to live." Relevtively, yes..but completely,
>absolutely? There is no need for self-improvement? Are you claiming
>to be
>fully enlightened; are you at the end of your personal journey? Wow.
>What
>are you going to do for the rest of your life? I bet being the messiah
>gets boring after a while, huh?

I've written an entire book on this topic. If you're interested, I
suggest you read "Getting Past OK." I am sensitive to your financial
situation and if you honestly would like to read it and cannot find it
in your library I will send (only) you a free copy, given who you are on
this list. Please send me your address privately. It's too complex a
subject for me to address in email.
>
>>>Can you describe a situation in which Level 3 thinking is required for
>>>survival...
>>
>>The head monk comes in with a sword, screaming, "if you move, I will
>>kill you! And if you don't move, I will also kill you!"
>
>No "thinking" helps in this scenario. It is entirely a question of
>comparative precision in action, presuming the monk is commited. Is
>this a
>zen parable?

Yes.
>
>>Relationships with members of the opposite sex.
>
>Now we are getting into something interesting! Teach me O master!

Ply me with fine cognac and fine cigars and I happily tell all I know.

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
>