Chapter 5

MEMES TO CARRY MEMES

      Up to this point, we have taken a look at the human soma from two different perspectives.  First we saw it as a receptor of information through various channels of communication.  This information can indicate a lack of homeostatic balance creating action or movement to return the soma to homeostasis.  We saw how focusing on only information from a few of these channels as opposed to all of them can create a mind-body split and an inability to return to homeostasis that ultimately leads to disease.  Next, we looked at the human soma from an evolutionary view point.  Here we saw the human soma evolve out of the interactions between less complex life forms, ultimately leading to a complex life form such as the human.  We witnessed the evolution of language out of the auditory channel of communication.  Sound provided two purposes for early humans, to release emotional tension and to produce a certain stress response in another.  Learning to refine various sounds to invoke specific responses led to intricate language.  As complex language evolved it gave rise to self-awareness.  We saw how self-awareness can create insecurity and together with language, provide a foundation for a mind-body split by increasing one's willingness to listen to an external authority rather than trusting one's own internal process.  Finally, we were introduced to the word meme as a small unit of cultural transmission.  Memes help the human soma shape its paradigms that, in turn, soothe insecurity and loneliness created through self-awareness by providing a common ground for human being.

      In this section, we will take a look at memes, specifically memes that provide a means to help transmit cultural information--memes-that-help-transmit- memes.  Language is such a cultural transmission (a learned behavior) that can help transmit cultural information (ideas about how to live and what to do).

      This is in no way an exhaustive study.  The purpose is to provide a view of the evolving communication channels between human somas.  Along the way, we can explore how some of these memes might effect the mind-body split.

      Cave painting was the first sign of early writing.  Dating back to prehistoric times, cave painting is a form of nonverbal visual information.  When the paintings were painted, it is possible to conceive that they were acted out and accompanied with sound, thus making full use of all the channels of communication.  The first sign writing appeared in Sumeria between 4,000 and 3,500 B.C. (Grun 1976).  It consisted of about 2,000 pictorial signs.  Over the next thousand years, this evolved into cuneiform writing.  Cuneiform writing is wedge shaped character writing.  The first alphabets appeared in Egypt and Greece between 2,000 and 1,000 B.C. (Grun, 1976).

      At this point we can take notice that early writing has evolved primarily out of hierarchical societies (Egypt, Sumeria, and Greece).  A whole study could possibly be done on the relation between writing and the rise of hierarchies.  Large civilizations would require rules to live by.  Early writing was a laborious task, and would be limited to the elite (Wells, 1931).  These rules would then be passed down from the elite to the masses, thus setting the stage for a hierarchy.

      What is this doing for the mind-body split?  As we can recall from the section on deeper communication, a mind-body split occurs when the rules of behavior, that enter primarily through the verbal/mental channels of communication, contradict the information received through the body channels of communication.  The coming together of writing, hierarchies and self-awareness is fertile soil for a mind-body split.  The rules that govern civilization were written and kept to the elite who have been trained in the skill of reading and writing.  These rules were then passed down to others through the hierarchy.  Language used from the third-person perspective will objectify the other receiving the rules and command their behavior.  If the rules contradict the individual's internal experience, it is likely that that individual will listen to the authority due to the insecurity created with self-awareness.  Jaynes (1976) argues that early hierarchical civilizations occurred with writing and without self-awareness.  The question arises: would a mind-body split then occur.

      Paper came from China into Arabia during the eighth century (Grun, 1976).  By 1150, it was being manufactured in Europe.  By the end of the fourteenth century it was available in abundance and cheap enough to print books (Wells, 1931).  In 1470, the first printing press was set up (Grun, 1976).  Before the printing press, documents had to be hand written.  The printing press allowed for the mass production of printed material.  In 1492, the profession of book publisher was established (Grun, 1976).  Before the printing press there were only about 30,000 books on the continent of Europe.  By 1500, there were more than nine million (Gates, 1995).  Information became available to more of the masses (Grun, 1975).  Literacy rates increased (Wells, 1931).

      In 1517 Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation.  Between the years of 1522 and 1562 he was able to print 100,000 copies of his translation of the Bible (Grun, 1976).  Other versions of the Bible were also being mass produced and distributed.  The hierarchy of the Catholic church began to lose power.  This was the source of the split between the values that created technology, and those that use/abuse technology, that I wrote about for my senior project.

      In 1644, Descartes published his Principia Philosophicae in which the famous statement (successful meme) "Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think therefore I am") appeared.  This is often reported to be the start of the mind-body split in our culture.  I disagree.  As I argued before, a mind-body split can occur whenever a set of rules, an authority (such as an hierarchy) and self-awareness merge.  This is evident in history long before Descartes.  What I believe Descartes did was solidify the mind-body split in writing and therefore, made it an accepted norm in academia.

      With a greater availability of books, more information was being absorbed through the verbal mind channels.  Theorist McLuhan (as cited in Greene, 1995) suggests that print technology as an extension of our visual sense has established new ratios of the proportion of all our other senses.  Thus, "we have undergone a shift from experiencing life within the perspective of the internal realm (ear/heart) to the external (eye/head) realm" (Greene,1995, p. 46).  McLuhan (as cited in Greene, 1995) also argues that print technology created a linear sense of time and space as opposed to a wholistic sense of time and space perceived through multisensory input.  Print technology created a solely visual imagination and, McLuhan (as cited in Greene, 1995) argues, this allowed fixed points of view and the collection of people within fixed points of view (p. 47).

      Mathematics is also a meme-that-helps-transmit-memes.  Mathematics is largely a visual phenomenon, working within the imagination.  Numbers and symbols appear in written form that help stimulate the imagination.  This is very much a mental phenomenon, and requires very little stimulation from the body channels.  Yet, mathematics is vital to the building of civilizations.

      The first numbers appeared in Egypt between 3,500 and 3,000 B.C. (Grun, 1975).  The number zero was invented around 800 A.D. by al-Khwarizmi an Arabian.  It didn't spread to Europe until about 1,200 A.D. (Grun, 1976).  The zero profoundly changed mathematics.  It allowed for decimal notation and multiplication by ten that ultimately lead to engineering and scientific calculations (Fuller, 1981).

      As far as mathematical systems go, geometry was used as far back as 2,000 B.C. in Babylonia to measure the stars (Grun, 1975).  Trigonometry was invented in 160 B.C. by Hipparchus of Nicaea.  Calculus did not arise until 1675 when it was invented simultaneously by both Newton and Leibniz (Grun, 1975).

      Newton originally used calculus to formulate mathematical laws for the motion of all bodies under the influence of gravity, thus confirming the Cartesian view of nature as a mechanical system (Capra, 1982).  Ironically, Newton did not fully believe in the mechanical view of the universe, however he kept his mystical beliefs suppressed to maintain his public image (Berman, 1984).  Newton, in a sense, "sold his soul" for a public image.  This sacrifice profoundly affected the way humanity viewed nature (Berman, 1984).

      While Newton supported the Cartesian myth in his days, he also provided the means for its dismissal.  As fate would have it, in the twentieth century, Newton's calculus became the foundation for Einstein's theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.  Both these discoveries have led physicists to question the Cartesian paradigm and reintroduced a mystical element to the universe.  Einstein's theory of relativity showed that space and time are not independent of each other as the Cartesian model seemed to suggest.  Rather, they are inseparable, forming a four dimensional reality called space-time (Hawking, 1988).  Quantum mechanics has shown that the observer cannot be an observer without affecting the outcome of an experiment.  This nullified an objective view of the universe and began to seal the gap between humanity and the environment (Capra, 1975).  Prior to these theories, the Cartesian paradigm allowed for the objectification of nature and set the stage for the industrial revolution. 

      Russian sociologist Sorokin (born 1889) noticed a cyclic trend in human culture (as cited in Oliner, 1976).  He did so through a quantitative analysis of 2,500 years of art, philosophy, music, law, social relationships, war, and revolution from many different human cultures.  The trends he noticed were, ideational, sensate, and idealistic.  Ideational is spiritual, depends on faith, intuition, and revelation, and emphasizes "being," permanence, and adaptation to the existing world.  Sensate is empirical and agnostic, and emphasizes becoming, change, mastery of the world for human gratification.  Idealistic is a synthesis of ideational and sensate with ideational dominate (Sorokin as cited in Oliner, 1976).  The time periods of the trends are as follows: Before 5th century B.C. was ideational, 5th and 4th centuries B.C. were idealistic, 3rd to 1st centuries B.C. were sensate, 1st to 4th centuries A.D. were a transition, 5th to 12th centuries A.D. were ideational, 13th and 14th centuries A.D. were idealistic, and 15th to present has been sensate (Sorokin as cited in Oliner, 1976).  This latest period of sensate culture began around the time of the printing press and continues to today.  With the new discoveries in physics, I suspect we could be in the midst of another change in this cycle to either a transition period or an ideational period.

      The industrial revolution occurred during this past sensate period.  The industrial revolution was fueled by the objectification of nature brought about by the works of Bacon, Descartes, and Newton (Berman, 1984).  By objectifying nature, it was more easily reduced, examined, and manipulated to serve "man's" needs (the industrial revolution served primarily a patriarchal society).  The result was an explosion of technological advances that allowed for both an increase in creature comforts for living and an increasing ability to reduce, examine, and manipulate nature.  The following is a brief summary of the technological advances that developed during this period that increased humanity's capacity for creating memes to transmit memes.

      In 1794, the first telegraph was invented (Grun, 1976).  In 1933, the first electromagnetic telegraph was invented.  The electromagnetic telegraph could transmit signals (Morse code) over 9,000 feet.  The first U.S. patent on the typewriter was granted in 1829.  By 1860, the typewriter was perfected and was mass produced in 1873.  In 1876, the telephone was invented.  Within a year, there was a public telephone service.  By 1910, there were 122,000 telephones in Britain.  In 1915, the first transcontinental telephone call was made between San Francisco and New York and, in 1957 the trans-Atlantic cable was laid.  In 1928, tele-typewriters, a marriage between the telephone and the typewriter, were brought into restricted use (Grun, 1976).

      In 1900 the first radio transmission of the human voice was made (Grun, 1976).  In 1906 the first radio broadcast of music was made.  In 1925, the first television images were transmitted.  By 1928, the first scheduled television broadcast was made.  In 1936, the BBC inaugurated television service.  By 1950, there were approximately 1.5 million T.V. sets in the U.S., and by the following year, there are around 15 million.  Commercial television began in 1955 in Britain.  In 1956 work began on a marriage between the telephone and the television, a "visual telephone."  By 1960 there were approximately 100 million T.V. sets world wide (Grun, 1976).

      Fuller (1981) credits the T.V. as the cause of the cultural revolution of the 1960's.  He suggests the T.V. became an authority in the home in addition to the parents of the household.  Adolescents were able to view images of war and destruction around the world and rebelled against society.  As for the mind-body split, commercial television began to broadcast ideal images of how life "should" be into homes further taking individuals away from their internal sense of who they are.

      Additional industrial age technology that transmit memes includes xerography, invented in 1946 (Grun, 1976), the recent introduction of the fax machine as a marriage between the telephone and xerography.  The first communications satellite was launched in 1968 (Grun, 1976).  The computer also evolved during this period.

      The idea of the computer goes as far back as 1834 (Grun, 1976).  The computer operates through a binary code of information storage and retrieval (Gates, 1995).  This is known as digital information.  Information stored digitally can be copied virtually flawlessly without any degradation that can occur in analog systems (Gates, 1995).  Dawkins (as cited in Schage, 1995) compares the virtually flawless binary information system of the computer with the virtually flawless quaterary information system of the genetic code.

      It wasn't until 1942 that a computer was actually built (Grun, 1976).  It was called the ENIAC (electronic numerical integrator and calculator).  It weighed 30 tons, filled a large room, and used 17,000 vacuum tubes and 150,000 watts of energy.  ENIAC could store about 80 characters of information (Gates, 1995).  In the 1960s, the transistor, made from silicon, had replaced the vacuum tube and greatly reduced the size and increased the performance of the computer.  Eventually, integrated circuit chips were created that could combine several transistors on one chip.  Today, integrated circuits contain the equivalent of millions of transistors in less than one square inch (Gates, 1995).  This decreases the size and increases the performance of the computer making the personal computer a possibility.  Since the introduction of the personal computer, according to my calculations from U.S. Bureau of the Census figures, the number of books published annually has increased by nearly 500 percent.

      The personal computer is a marriage between the television screen, typewriter and the "electronic brain."  With the computer screen, multi-media is possible.  Multimedia is information received throug, video, text, graphics, and sound.  Information can now be received by multi-sensory input through both the visual and auditory channels, both verbally and nonverbally.  This reduces some of the problem that McLuhan (as cited in Greene, 1995) wrote about with print technology, however, it does not go as far as solving the mind-body split.  Information is still received only through the mind channels as opposed to the body channels.

      The computer can change writing through hypertext.  The word hypertext was coined in 1965 by Nelson (as cited in Horn, 1989) to mean, "computer-supported non-sequential writing."  Hypertext consists of nodes and links (Horn, 1989).  A node is simply a chunk of information.  For example, this entire paper could be stored as a node.  Or, chunks of this paper could be stored as separate nodes.  A link is a link between the various nodes (Horn, 1989).  To use this text as an example, certain words and phrases would appear underlined and in a different color.  This could represent a link to either another chunk of information (node) in this text or a node elsewhere in another text.  For example, the information on the brain could be linked to the information on the stress reaction cycle.  By clicking on a bold face word, a different piece of text would appear on the computer screen.  In this way, the reader could choose their own path through a piece of writing based on their own interests rather than follow a predescribed path set forth by the author.  Hypertext eliminates linear writing and reading.

      This further eliminates some of the problems associated with receiving information in a linear fashion (mentioned earlier in this section), however it still doesn't solve the mind-body split.  Let us keep converging technology and see if it may lead to a resolution of the mind-body split.

      A marriage between telephone (with fiber optic cable) and the computer constitutes the internet.  The fiber optic cable is an alternative to wire cable.  It is made out of plastic or glass so smooth and clear that if we look through a wall of this material seventy miles thick we could see a candle burning on the other side (Gates, 1995).  Greater amounts of information can pass through fiber optics in the form of light than that through a wire cable in the form of electric impulses.  This gives rise to the possibility of an "information superhighway" and the internet.

      The internet consists of several servers linked by phone lines.  A server is the equivalent to a phone company (Kane, 1996).  Through the server, individuals can connects via their own personal computer through what is called a site.  By way of their site, they have access to all the information others chose to leave at their sites.

      The internet began in the 1960s by the U.S. government (Kane, 1996).  In the event of a war, government officials did not want to be in just one location.  The internet was created so they could be located in several places across the country and still keep in contact with each other.  The idea of the internet spread to educational systems and now it is widely accessed for personal uses.

      A marriage between multi-media and the internet is called the world-wide-web (Kane, 1996).  Through the world-wide-web, individuals have access to information stored in multi-media.  A further marriage between the world-wide-web and hypertext can create a mass information system storing of all the worlds information in multi-media fashion accessible to anyone who has a computer terminal anywhere around the world.  Systems such as Xanadu and Alexandria of the Twenty-first Century are designed for such a task.

      Xanadu was named after a poem by Kubla Khan about a Utopian city.  However, the Xanadu that I'm writing about is not the mythical city, it is a computer system.  Nelson (1986) is the visionary who has set it in motion.  His vision is a "universal archive and publishing system" that can be accessible to "anyone on the planet or in orbit."  He envisions that in the year 2020, billions of simultaneous users will be fed information from hundreds of thousands of servers carrying trillions of documents with trillions of links between the documents.  The billions of users will be able to add billions of documents an hour to the system.  Documents will be "chunks, or graphics, or pictures, or movies, interrelated in a complex structure which is woven together" (Nelson, 1976).  Rather than citing authors as I have done throughout my project, within the Xanadu system, a writer would simply point to the text being cited.  The reader could then examine that text without a trip to the library.

      Alexandria of the Twenty-first Century is named after the ancient library of Alexandria.  Alexandria was the center of Greek and learning (Grun, 1975).  The library contained 700,000 volumes (Fuller, 1981).  Unfortunately, the library was destroyed in burnings by the Roman Empire between the years 272 A.D. and 391 A.D. and a final burning by the Muslims in 642 A.D. (Fuller, 1981).  All of the information was lost.  Alexandria of the Twenty-first Century is currently just an idea of a world-wide multi-media-hypertext computer information system being envisioned by a start-up company called "Ideas in Motion."

      The difference between Xanadu and Alexandria of the Twenty-first Century is that Alexandria will not be as easily accessible to write documents.  The intention is easy access to read documents compiled by various experts in given areas of study.  Alexandria is more of a library where Xanadu is more of a publishing system.

      Alexandria of the Twenty-first Century and Xanadu are memes.  I do not see them as mutually exclusive systems, but rather, complimentary systems surviving in a network and in symbiosis.  I'm sure there are many other systems besides Xanadu and Alexandria being both envisioned and/or created.  Some could work in symbiosis with each other and others could be in direct competition.  What survives and becomes reality is up to the process of evolution.

      As for the mind-body split, I see universal computer archive and information (meme) systems as healing in two ways.  First, it can eliminate the need for a hierarchical system of information transfer passed down from an authority.  Instead, the individual is free to follow their own interests as an internal authority.  The division between fields of study will diminish, as it will be easy to access information from other fields and find similarities and connections.  This lessens specialization and creates greater wholeness within individuals.  Both Peck (1983) and Fuller (1981) warn us of the dangers of specialization.  Peck says, "I am thoroughly convinced that much of the evil of our times is related to specialization and we need to develop an attitude of suspicious caution towards it" (1983, p. 217).  Fuller says that because of specialization "individuals humans are now helplessly inarticulate in the face of the present crisis.  They consider their political representation to be completely corrupted, therefor they feel almost utterly helpless" (1981, p. xxviii).

      Second, universal computer archive and information (meme) systems will increase the frequency of learning III.  Learning III, as we can recall from the chapter on evolution, is a change in the process of learning II.  This can happen when there is a "contrary" in what has been learned on level II (Bateson, 1972).  To resolve the contradictions (mutually exclusive memes/paradigms), a whole new character emerges.  When readers come across mutually exclusive paradigms within the archive system, it will create such a contrary and could force the individual to begin to question the validity of intellectual beliefs and prepare the individual for a non-verbal reality that is deeper than these beliefs.  Here, the individual ceases to identify with one paradigm or another, but rather gains "an understanding of the nature of paradigm itself" (Berman, 1984, p. 214).  Rather than using the intellect for paradigmatic answers about reality, humanity can use the intellect to understand their experiences as human soma.  A universal computer archive and information system could be full of information accumulated by previous explorers in this area of study that can assist the individual with such a task.

      I compare "the information super highway" with the nervous system in the human soma.  Just as the nervous system is capable of delivering fast messages across the organism, the information super highway is capable of delivering fast information across the planet.  The two branches of the human nervous system have two functions that can also be serviced for humanity through a computer network.  The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for regulating the body's automatic functions such as breathing and heart rate.  A computer network can be capable of regulating automatic functions for humanity such as the manufacture and distribution of goods.  The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for quick responses to danger in the fight-or-flight reaction.  In animals, it helps them to find their territory.  A computer information network can help us as individuals "find our territory."  This will be an intellectual understanding of our identity that is aligned with our bodies needs--a somatic reality.  This will allow us as human beings to use the talents and skills that support our passions in such a way that works for the betterment of all humanity.  In finding our territory, we can spend time reacting to the less immediate threats to homeostasis regulated by the endocrine system.  These, as I pointed out earlier, can be in humans a source for pleasure.  Once living from an internal authority, the human soma will always be sensitive enough to its own needs, based on proprioceptive awareness, to know what action it must take to return to homeostasis.  In this way, the human soma will be able to organize itself and its culture in such a way that is the most healthy for all of humanity.

• Bateson, G.  (1972).  Steps to an ecology of mind: A revolutionary approach to man's understanding of himself.  New York, NY: Chandler.
• Berman, M.  (1984).  The reenchantment of the world.  New York, NY: Bantam.
• Capra, F.  (1982).  The turning point: Science, society, and the rising culture.  New York, NY: Bantam.
• Fuller, R. B.  (1981).  Critical path.  New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.
• Gates, B.  (1995).  The road ahead.  New York, NY: Penguin.
• Greene, D.  (1995).  Embodying holism: A somatic perspective on communication.  Dissertation.  Columbus OH: Ohio State University.
• Grun, B.  (1975).  The timetables of history: A horizontal linkage of people and events.  New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
• Hawking, S.  (1988).  A brief history of time: From the big bang to black holes.  New York, NY: Bantam.
• Horn, R. E.  (1989).  Mapping hypertext.  Lexington, MA: The Lexington Institute.
• Jaynes, J.  (1976).  The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind.  Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
• Kane, R.  (1996, February).  Internet Intensive.  Lecture and workshop presented at The Learning Annex, San Francisco, CA.
• Nelson, T. H.  (Producer & Director).  (1986).  A technical overview of the Xanadu system.  [video].  (Available from Mindful Press, Sausalito, CA.)
• Nelson, T. H. (1992).  Literary machines.  Sausalito, CA: Mindful Press.
• Oliner, S.  (1976, Fall).  Sorokin's Contribution to American Sociology.  Nationalities Papers.  4 No. 2.  125-151.
• Peck, S. (1983).  People of the lie: The hope for healing human evil.  New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
• Schrage, M.  (1995, July).  Revolutionary Evolutionist.  Wired.  120-123.
• U.S. Bureau of the Census.  (1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, & 1994).  Statistical abstract of the United States.  Vol. 76, 86, 96, 105, & 114.  Washington D.C.
• Wells, O.  (1931).  The outline of history. Revised ed.  New York, NY: Garden City.