Quake3World

If you imagine the spread of thoughts amongst a population of intelligent beeings, you come to the conclusion that there is a certain similiarity to the spread of illnesses: The thought transmits itself via a host that at first recieves, carries and then retells the thought to other persons.
Increasing with the impression the thought made on the host, the host is more likely to retell the thought. On the other hand, if he did not accept it, it will remain with him, untold.
Thus, every thought that ever gets developed in a human brain has a certain lifespan. And as religions are thoughtmodels, they have a lifespan, too.
In addition to the lifespan we can somehow define a spread of the thought, counting the people that carry it at the moment.

We could further develop this model to some degree at this point (evolution of thoughts, impressiveness over time, etc), but i think for the main statement to come in the next paragraph, it's not neccessairy at all. However, to keep the idea a bit more realistic we should note that certain persons are more likely to retell a thought of religious matter; they have a more missionary, priest-like personality.


So - concerning new age religions :

In earlier times, when life (with less travel and exchange between communities) was more static than it is nowadays, a religion had to be strong enough to give satisfaction to a follower for a big part of his lifetime. Otherwise, it would not have been retold to the children; it would have died out early and never reached a wide spread.
Nowadays, with global communication, this is not the case anymore. A religious thoughtmodel can be as week as possible as it only has to be impressive for a short amount of time ( 2-3 months maybe). A few zealots will spread the thoughts, using the internet. They don't even have to keep their way for a long time as during their active period, they will have spread the thought to enough new possible zealots.
So as a conclusion: Spiritual thoughts that are propably unsatisfying on the long run (spellcasting, etc...) have a much higher lifespan and they reach a much wider spread today.

memetics?

Pext wrote:If you imagine the spread of thoughts amongst a population of intelligent beeings, you come to the conclusion that there is a certain similiarity to the spread of illnesses: The thought transmits itself via a host that at first recieves, carries and then retells the thought to other persons.
Increasing with the impression the thought made on the host, the host is more likely to retell the thought. On the other hand, if he did not accept it, it will remain with him, untold.
Thus, every thought that ever gets developed in a human brain has a certain lifespan. And as religions are thoughtmodels, they have a lifespan, too.
In addition to the lifespan we can somehow define a spread of the thought, counting the people that carry it at the moment.

We could further develop this model to some degree at this point (evolution of thoughts, impressiveness over time, etc), but i think for the main statement to come in the next paragraph, it's not neccessairy at all. However, to keep the idea a bit more realistic we should note that certain persons are more likely to retell a thought of religious matter; they have a more missionary, priest-like personality.


So - concerning new age religions :

In earlier times, when life (with less travel and exchange between communities) was more static than it is nowadays, a religion had to be strong enough to give satisfaction to a follower for a big part of his lifetime. Otherwise, it would not have been retold to the children; it would have died out early and never reached a wide spread.
Nowadays, with global communication, this is not the case anymore. A religious thoughtmodel can be as week as possible as it only has to be impressive for a short amount of time ( 2-3 months maybe). A few zealots will spread the thoughts, using the internet. They don't even have to keep their way for a long time as during their active period, they will have spread the thought to enough new possible zealots.
So as a conclusion: Spiritual thoughts that are propably unsatisfying on the long run (spellcasting, etc...) have a much higher lifespan and they reach a much wider spread today.

Bunch of hippy mumbo jumbo

hm... i allready guessed the thought was not that new

Massive Quasars wrote:memetics?

Didn't get through your entire peice before I spouted this. Nonetheless, if you're not familiar with the term you may want to read up on it.

[FTF]Pyro wrote:Bunch of hippy mumbo jumbo

You're a moron.

Pext wrote:hm... i allready guessed the thought was not that new

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics

Poor lay link, but it'll get you started. Richard Dawkins thought this up (you may have heard of him).

thanks a lot :icon14:

i think i'll get myself a good book on that matter. any recommendations? or is your knowledge only web based?

np

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=Memetics&meta=

the thanks was for giving me a term for further investigation of the matter. i allready googled myself...

Pext wrote:

[FTF]Pyro wrote:Bunch of hippy mumbo jumbo

You're a moron.

to say that I am a moron based upon my equation that memetics relates to hippies is naive and stoopid

Memeoid is a neologism for people who have been taken over by a meme to the extent that that their own survival becomes inconsequential. Examples include kamikazes, suicide bombers and cult members who commit mass suicide.

Hippies (singular hippie or sometimes hippy) were members of the 1960s counterculture movement who adopted a communal or nomadic lifestyle, renounced corporate nationalism and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and/or Native American religious culture, and were otherwise at odds with traditional middle class Western values. They saw paternalistic government, corporate industry, and traditional social mores as part of a unified establishment that had no authentic legitimacy.

ever heard of the expression free your mind.


http://www.davidicke.com/

eh - shut it, dickhead.

you said that the concept of memetics itself is "hippie mumbo jumbo". and that's plain wrong.

Pext wrote:eh - shut it, dickhead.

you said that the concept of memetics itself is "hippie mumbo jumbo". and that's plain wrong.

Why is it wrong? seriously.

You wanna talk about religious idiologies lets talk. no rights no wrongs

are you trying to contend with Geoff?

phantasmagoria wrote:are you trying to contend with Geoff?

I'm here to alieviate boredom. I post shit, I care little.....

phantasmagoria wrote:are you trying to contend with Geoff?

by the way, the animations you did of that little morph character. Liked the bhudda one.

Cool, thanks

phantasmagoria wrote:Cool, thanks

No problem, now get your hand off my ass and stop looking at me funny.

Massive Quasars wrote:memetics?

quality short version

[FTF]Pyro wrote:

Pext wrote:If you imagine the spread of thoughts amongst a population of intelligent beeings, you come to the conclusion that there is a certain similiarity to the spread of illnesses: The thought transmits itself via a host that at first recieves, carries and then retells the thought to other persons.
Increasing with the impression the thought made on the host, the host is more likely to retell the thought. On the other hand, if he did not accept it, it will remain with him, untold.
Thus, every thought that ever gets developed in a human brain has a certain lifespan. And as religions are thoughtmodels, they have a lifespan, too.
In addition to the lifespan we can somehow define a spread of the thought, counting the people that carry it at the moment.

We could further develop this model to some degree at this point (evolution of thoughts, impressiveness over time, etc), but i think for the main statement to come in the next paragraph, it's not neccessairy at all. However, to keep the idea a bit more realistic we should note that certain persons are more likely to retell a thought of religious matter; they have a more missionary, priest-like personality.


So - concerning new age religions :

In earlier times, when life (with less travel and exchange between communities) was more static than it is nowadays, a religion had to be strong enough to give satisfaction to a follower for a big part of his lifetime. Otherwise, it would not have been retold to the children; it would have died out early and never reached a wide spread.
Nowadays, with global communication, this is not the case anymore. A religious thoughtmodel can be as week as possible as it only has to be impressive for a short amount of time ( 2-3 months maybe). A few zealots will spread the thoughts, using the internet. They don't even have to keep their way for a long time as during their active period, they will have spread the thought to enough new possible zealots.
So as a conclusion: Spiritual thoughts that are propably unsatisfying on the long run (spellcasting, etc...) have a much higher lifespan and they reach a much wider spread today.

Bunch of hippy mumbo jumbo

lol @ professor farnsworth

Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash