How to fix the world

created by dscotese

(idea) by dscotese (8.3 mon) (print) ? (I like it!) 1 C! Fri Apr 18 2003 at 4:15:53

Identify exactly what is broken

Mickey Mouse will tell you it's a lack of cheese. (However, according to yerricide he said it's the lack of prepetual copyright - I bet they were with the governmental er I mean corporate representative.)
Itchy and Scratchy will tell you it's a lack of violence.
Popeye will tell you it's bullies like Brutus.
Bugs Bunny will tell you the world is not broken.
Santa Claus will tell you to get more paper for the list of who is naughty.
The Easter Bunny will tell you it's the predator-prey relationship, specifically relating to neighborhood cats and dogs.
Elmo will tell you people don't pledge enough to public broadcasting.
Betty Boop will tell you people are too uptight.
Bart Simpson will tell you the educational system sucks.
You are the only one who can decide what you think is wrong with the world.

The largest effects of individuals

Your most effective behavior is self-replicating. No, not that kind. Although that behavior can have a very large ef fe ct, the progress you can make toward fixing the world is very slow and requires rare parenting skill. I'm talking about meme transfer.

The people in charge of the many tiny parts of the world that need to be changed in order for it to be fixed will not take action until a certain set of memes are interacting in their brains. Often, one of these is "what the people want," a derivative of the oh-so-powerful peer pressure. This meme does not need to be spread, because it is already in the brains of all the powerful people, and, in fact, played a large part in putting them in power. However, it also gives you power, if you know how to spread memes.

When you talk (or write) to another person and you give them a meme that they like, there's a good a chance that they will spread it further to other people. If you also inspire them to recognize the value of meme transfer, the chances grow tremendously. Thomas Jefferson came up with the idea of the public education system because he recognized this and wanted to institutionalize the transfer and proliferation of beneficial memes. His conceptualization of it may have been limited to the sphere of politics, but the fact is that meme proliferation is the single most powerful effect an individual can have in any sphere.

Identify memes that bring about the required changes

This is the process of figuring out exactly what it is that you've figured out, how you figured it out, and what pieces of knowledge or ideas had to be in your brain in order for you to figure it out. You may want to go back to what all the cartoon characters would tell you is the problem with the world and see if any of their input might help. Cartoon characters have the magical quality of being unreal, and yet having transferred memes into thousands and thousands of active brains. When you present your meme along with a cartoon character, it will be more comfortable in your audience's head, and thus have a greater chance of proliferating.

Spread the memes

You cannot avoid spreading memes if you communicate with others. The trick here is to let the memes you have identified be the ones that come out and play. This is a task made difficult by rampant advertising. Advertising has been around so long that people nowadays recognize when someone is trying to put a meme in their heads, and they will immediately throw up an internal defense mechanism in order to avoid being convinced to buy something that might be neat, but is unnecessary and ultimately a waste of money. Consider this fair warning against proselytizing. Nevertheless, we can learn from the most skilled of Jehovah's Witnesses. They willingly tell you what they are doing at your front door, and they do it blatantly (sort of like I'm doing now). The benefit of this approach is the honesty. If you think someone might make a good meme spreader (that is, a good spreader of memes, and a spreader of good memes), consider the honest approach with them. It's not always the right choice, but that all depends on their point of view. Until you feel that you understand their point of view well enough to tell, it's best to converse naturally with them and avoid the urge to throw your pearls.

So what I'm suggesting is that you don't try to spread your memes unless you're pretty sure of success. Instead, rely on natural human interaction which tends to bring memes out when they have a good chance of avoiding death in infancy. The more you think about your memes, the more robust they will become, and you will find yourself talking about them without having planned to, and you will find that they creep into conversations without threatening the people you're conversing with the way advertising does.

decimetre points out that spreading memes is the most problematic step, and I agree. Someone should node that, and if no one beats me to it, I will, but such a node will be difficult and probably require updates as people discover all its nuances and msg the author with them.

That's it!
If you follow these steps and you are extremely intelligent, you will probably be able to fix the world in a few years. I hope I will become that intelligent before I die. Meanwhile, I'll be watching for your memes right here at E2.

I like pipe-links - check 'em out.

printable version
chaos

pearls before swine	The benefit of superficial beauty	Meme	sex
Bugger this: I want a better world	Won't you be my neighbor?	Know your Enemy	Balaclava
Jehovah's Witness	proselytize	generation	Bart Simpson
Betty Boop	Bugs Bunny	Itchy and Scratchy	magical
nomeansno	understanding	Love your enemies	Israel/Palestine: Hopes for Peace
infant mortality	Advertising	cartoon	Politics

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